<li><a href="{{ pathto('api/index') }}">API</a>|&nbsp;</li>

API Overview

.. toctree::

:hidden:

api_changes

.. contents:: :local:

See also the :doc:`api_changes`.

Usage patterns

Below we describe several common approaches to plotting with Matplotlib.

The pyplot API

`matplotlib.pyplot` is a collection of command style functions that make

Matplotlib work like MATLAB. Each pyplot function makes some change to a

figure: e.g., creates a figure, creates a plotting area in a figure, plots

some lines in a plotting area, decorates the plot with labels, etc.

`.pyplot` is mainly intended for interactive plots and simple cases of

programmatic plot generation.

Further reading:

- The `matplotlib.pyplot` function reference

- :doc:`/tutorials/introductory/pyplot`

- :ref:`Pyplot examples <pyplots_examples>`

The object-oriented API

At its core, Matplotlib is object-oriented. We recommend directly working

with the objects, if you need more control and customization of your plots.

In many cases you will create a `.Figure` and one or more

`~matplotlib.axes.Axes` using `.pyplot.subplots` and from then on only work

on these objects. However, it's also possible to create `.Figure`\ s

explicitly (e.g. when including them in GUI applications).

Further reading:

- `matplotlib.axes.Axes` and `matplotlib.figure.Figure` for an overview of

plotting functions.

- Most of the :ref:`examples <examples-index>` use the object-oriented approach

(except for the pyplot section)

The pylab API (disapproved)

.. warning::

Since heavily importing into the global namespace may result in unexpected

behavior, the use of pylab is strongly discouraged. Use `matplotlib.pyplot`

instead.

`pylab` is a module that includes `matplotlib.pyplot`, `numpy`

and some additional functions within a single namespace. Its original purpose

was to mimic a MATLAB-like way of working by importing all functions into the

global namespace. This is considered bad style nowadays.

Matplotlib consists of the following submodules:

:ref:`toolkits-index` are collections of application-specific functions that extend

Matplotlib. The following toolkits are included: