How to add grid lines to a plot in matplotlib
Overview
Plots in matplotlib are used to represent the visualization of a given data. These plots require a lot of properties
which are required and are used to enhance the look of the visuals. One of these properties is the gridline.
A gridline is simply a series of intersecting straight or curved lines used to show axis division. Interestingly, order than other data visualization tools like Microsoft excel, pandas, powerbi e.t.c., the matplot library (matplotlib) also comes with many features that help enhance and add changes to the visualization(figure, plot e.t.c) of a data set. In this shot, we want to see the feature of matplotlib that helps us add a grid line to a plot.
Adding grid lines to a plot
The pyplot module in matplotlib has a function called grid() which is used to add a grid line to a plot.
Example
Now let us use the pyplot.grid() to add a grid to a plot:
import matplotlib.pyplot as pltimport numpy as npx= np.array([1, 5])y = np.array([10, 20])plt.plot(x, y)# usig the title() methodplt.title('Y against X')# using the xlabel() and ylabel() methodsplt.xlabel("x axis")plt.ylabel("y axis")# adding the grid using the grid() functionplt.grid()plt.show()
• Line 1: we imported the pyplot module from the matplot library
- Line2: we imported the
numpymodule - Line 4: we created an array variable
xusing thenumpy.array()method. - Line 5: we created another array variable
yusing thenumpy.array()method. - Line 7: using the
pyplot.plot()method we plotted theyagainstx(that isxon the x-axis andyon the y-axis. - Line 10: Line 10: using the
pyplot.title()method, we gave a title to our plot. - Line 12: using the
pyplot.xlabel()method, we gave a label to the x-axis of our plot. - Line 13: using the
pyplot.ylabel()method, we gave a label to the y-axis of our plot. - line 15: using the
pyplot.grid()function, we added a grid to the plot. - Line 16: using the
pyplot.show()method, we asked python to show us our plot.
Specifying the grid axis
Interestingly, we can specify which axis our grid line should appear. In this case, the pyplot.grid() takes a parameter axis which takes x or y value to specify which of the axis you would like to see the grid.
Example
Now, let’s create a plot to show the grid on the x-axis only:
import matplotlib.pyplot as pltimport numpy as npx= np.array([1, 5])y = np.array([10, 20])plt.plot(x, y)# usig the title() methodplt.title('Y against X')# using the xlabel() and ylabel() methodsplt.xlabel("x axis")plt.ylabel("y axis")# to display the grid on the x axisplt.grid(axis='x')plt.show()