Glossary#

This glossary defines concepts and terminology specific to Matplotlib.

Figure#

The outermost container for a Matplotlib graphic. Think of this as thecanvas to draw on.

This is implemented in the classFigure. For more details seeIntroduction to Figures.

Axes#

This is a container for what is often colloquially called a plot/chart/graph.It's a data area withAxises, i.e. coordinate directions,and includes data artists like lines, bars etc. as well asdecorations like title, axis labels, legend.

Since most "plotting operations" are realized as methods onAxesthis is the object users will mostly interact with.

Note: The termAxes was taken over from MATLAB. Think of this asa container spanned by thex- andy-axis, including decorationand data.

Axis#

A direction with a scale. The scale defines the mapping fromdata coordinates to screen coordinates. The Axis also includesthe ticks and axis label.

Artist#

The base class for all graphical element that can be drawn.Examples are Lines, Rectangles, Text, Ticks, Legend, Axes, ...