Style Sheets

What are Style Sheets?

Style sheets are predefined sets of rcParams that control the appearance of Matplotlib figures. They provide a quick way to change the overall look of your plots.

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

# Apply a style
plt.style.use('seaborn-v0_8')

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Available Styles

List All Styles

print(plt.style.available)

Common styles: - 'default' — Matplotlib default - 'seaborn-v0_8' — Seaborn-inspired (clean, modern) - 'ggplot' — R's ggplot2 style - 'fivethirtyeight' — FiveThirtyEight blog style - 'bmh' — Bayesian Methods for Hackers - 'dark_background' — White on dark - 'grayscale' — Black and white - 'classic' — Old Matplotlib style

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Using Styles

Global Style

# Apply to all subsequent plots
plt.style.use('ggplot')

# Create plots with ggplot style
plt.plot([1, 2, 3], [1, 4, 9])
plt.show()

Temporary Style (Context Manager)

# Use style only within this block
with plt.style.context('dark_background'):
    plt.plot([1, 2, 3], [1, 4, 9])
    plt.show()

# Back to default style here

Combining Styles

# Apply multiple styles (later overrides earlier)
plt.style.use(['seaborn-v0_8', 'seaborn-v0_8-talk'])

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Style Comparison

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np

x = np.linspace(0, 10, 100)
styles = ['default', 'seaborn-v0_8', 'ggplot', 'fivethirtyeight']

fig, axes = plt.subplots(2, 2, figsize=(12, 10))

for ax, style in zip(axes.flat, styles):
    with plt.style.context(style):
        ax.plot(x, np.sin(x), label='sin')
        ax.plot(x, np.cos(x), label='cos')
        ax.set_title(f"Style: '{style}'")
        ax.legend()

plt.tight_layout()
plt.show()

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Seaborn Styles

Seaborn-based styles (prefix seaborn-v0_8):

Style	Description
seaborn-v0_8	Base seaborn style
seaborn-v0_8-whitegrid	White background with grid
seaborn-v0_8-darkgrid	Gray background with grid
seaborn-v0_8-white	White background, no grid
seaborn-v0_8-dark	Gray background, no grid
seaborn-v0_8-talk	Larger fonts for presentations
seaborn-v0_8-poster	Even larger for posters
seaborn-v0_8-paper	Smaller for publications

# Combine base style with size variant
plt.style.use(['seaborn-v0_8-whitegrid', 'seaborn-v0_8-talk'])

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Custom Style Files

Create a Style File

Create my_style.mplstyle:

# Figure
figure.figsize: 10, 6
figure.facecolor: white

# Axes
axes.facecolor: f5f5f5
axes.edgecolor: cccccc
axes.labelsize: 12
axes.titlesize: 14
axes.grid: True

# Grid
grid.color: white
grid.linestyle: -
grid.linewidth: 1

# Lines
lines.linewidth: 2
lines.markersize: 8

# Font
font.family: sans-serif
font.size: 11

# Legend
legend.frameon: False
legend.fontsize: 10

Use Custom Style

# From file path
plt.style.use('./my_style.mplstyle')

# Or place in matplotlib config directory
# ~/.config/matplotlib/stylelib/my_style.mplstyle
plt.style.use('my_style')

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Modifying rcParams Directly

Temporary Changes

# Change specific parameters
plt.rcParams['figure.figsize'] = [10, 6]
plt.rcParams['lines.linewidth'] = 2
plt.rcParams['font.size'] = 12

Reset to Defaults

# Reset all to defaults
plt.rcdefaults()

# Or reset to a specific style
plt.style.use('default')

Context Manager for rcParams

with plt.rc_context({'lines.linewidth': 3, 'font.size': 14}):
    plt.plot([1, 2, 3])
    plt.show()
# Back to original settings

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Best Practices

For Publications

plt.style.use('seaborn-v0_8-paper')
plt.rcParams.update({
    'font.size': 8,
    'axes.labelsize': 9,
    'axes.titlesize': 10,
    'figure.figsize': [3.5, 2.5],  # Single column width
    'savefig.dpi': 300
})

For Presentations

plt.style.use(['seaborn-v0_8', 'seaborn-v0_8-talk'])
plt.rcParams.update({
    'figure.figsize': [12, 8],
    'lines.linewidth': 3
})

For Dark Mode

plt.style.use('dark_background')

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Summary

Function	Purpose
plt.style.use(style)	Apply style globally
plt.style.context(style)	Apply style temporarily
plt.style.available	List all available styles
plt.rcParams[key] = value	Modify individual setting
plt.rcdefaults()	Reset to defaults
plt.rc_context(dict)	Temporary rcParams changes

Key Takeaways:

• Use style sheets for consistent, professional plots
• seaborn-v0_8 styles are clean and modern
• Combine styles for customization
• Create custom .mplstyle files for reusable configurations
• Use context managers for temporary style changes