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Matplotlib is a popular library used for creating data visualizations in Python. One of the key features of this library is the ability to customize the appearance of the graphs and plots. This includes adjusting the line thickness, which can greatly impact the overall visual aesthetic of the graph. To adjust the line thickness in Matplotlib, one can use the “linewidth” parameter in the plot function. This parameter takes a numerical value that determines the thickness of the line. Additionally, the “set_linewidth” method can be used to adjust the line thickness of existing lines in a plot. By utilizing these methods, one can easily adjust the line thickness in Matplotlib to create visually appealing and informative data visualizations.
Adjust Line Thickness in Matplotlib
You can easily adjust the thickness of lines in Matplotlib plots by using the linewidth argument function, which uses the following syntax:
matplotlib.pyplot.plot(x, y, linewidth=1.5)
By default, the line width is 1.5 but you can adjust this to any value greater than 0.
This tutorial provides several examples of how to use this function in practice.
Example 1: Adjust the Thickness of One Line
The following code shows how to create a simple line chart and set the line width to 3:
import matplotlib.pyplotas plt
import numpy as np#define x and y values
x = np.linspace(0, 10, 100)
y1 = np.sin(x)*np.exp(-x/3)
#create line plot with line width set to 3
plt.plot(x, y1, linewidth=3)
#display plot
plt.show()
Example 2: Adjust the Thickness of Multiple Lines
The following code shows how to adjust the thickness of multiple lines at once:
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np#define x and y values
x = np.linspace(0, 10, 100)
y1 = np.sin(x)*np.exp(-x/3)
y2 = np.cos(x)*np.exp(-x/5)
#create line plot with multiple lines
plt.plot(x, y1, linewidth=3)
plt.plot(x, y2, linewidth=1)
#display plot
plt.show()
Example 3: Adjust Line Thickness in Legends
The following code shows how to create multiple lines with different thicknesses and create a legend that displays the the thickness of each line accordingly:
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np#define x and y values
x = np.linspace(0, 10, 100)
y1 = np.sin(x)*np.exp(-x/3)
y2 = np.cos(x)*np.exp(-x/5)
#create line plot with multiple lines
plt.plot(x, y1, linewidth=3, label='y1')
plt.plot(x, y2, linewidth=1, label='y2')
#add legend
plt.legend()
#display plot
plt.show()
Additional Resources
How to Fill in Areas Between Lines in Matplotlib
How to Remove Ticks from Matplotlib Plots
How to Place the Legend Outside of a Matplotlib Plot