Pandas Dataframe: Plot Examples with Matplotlib and Pyplot

Pandas Dataframe: Plot Examples with Matplotlib and Pyplot

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Pandas Dataframe: Plot Examples with Matplotlib and Pyplot
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All examples can be viewed in this sample Jupyter notebook

You need to have the matplotlib module installed for this!

Versions used: Pandas 1.x, matplotlib 3.0.x

Sample data for examples

import pandas as pd

df = pd.DataFrame({
    'name':['john','mary','peter','jeff','bill','lisa','jose'],
    'age':[23,78,22,19,45,33,20],
    'gender':['M','F','M','M','M','F','M'],
    'state':['california','dc','california','dc','california','texas','texas'],
    'num_children':[2,0,0,3,2,1,4],
    'num_pets':[5,1,0,5,2,2,3]
})

sample-pandas-dataframe This is what our sample dataset looks like

Pandas has tight integration with matplotlib.

You can plot data directly from your DataFrame using the plot() method:

Scatter plot of two columns

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import pandas as pd

# a scatter plot comparing num_children and num_pets
df.plot(kind='scatter',x='num_children',y='num_pets',color='red')
plt.show()

source-dataframe Source dataframe
simple scatter plot based on pandas dataframe Looks like we have a trend

Bar plot of column values

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import pandas as pd

# a simple line plot
df.plot(kind='bar',x='name',y='age')

source-dataframe Source dataframe
simple bar plot based on pandas dataframe 'kind' takes arguments such as 'bar', 'barh' (horizontal bars), etc

Line plot, multiple columns

Just reuse the Axes object.

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import pandas as pd

# gca stands for 'get current axis'
ax = plt.gca()

df.plot(kind='line',x='name',y='num_children',ax=ax)
df.plot(kind='line',x='name',y='num_pets', color='red', ax=ax)

plt.show()

source-dataframe Source dataframe
optional-argument-ax plot() takes an optional argument 'ax' which allows you to
reuse an Axis to plot multiple lines

Save plot to file

Instead of calling plt.show(), call plt.savefig('outputfile.png'):

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import pandas as pd

df.plot(kind='bar',x='name',y='age')

# the plot gets saved to 'output.png'
plt.savefig('output.png')

Bar plot with group by

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import pandas as pd

df.groupby('state')['name'].nunique().plot(kind='bar')
plt.show()

source-dataframe Source dataframe
number-unique-names-per-state Number of unique names per state

Stacked bar plot with group by

Example: plot count by category as a stacked column:

  • create a dummy variable and do a two-level group-by based on it:

  • fix the x axis label and the legend

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

# create dummy variable them group by that
# set the legend to false because we'll fix it later
df.assign(dummy = 1).groupby(
  ['dummy','state']
).size().to_frame().unstack().plot(kind='bar',stacked=True,legend=False)

plt.title('Number of records by State')

# other it'll show up as 'dummy' 
plt.xlabel('state')

# disable ticks in the x axis
plt.xticks([])

# fix the legend
current_handles, _ = plt.gca().get_legend_handles_labels()
reversed_handles = reversed(current_handles)

labels = reversed(df['state'].unique())

plt.legend(reversed_handles,labels,loc='lower right')
plt.show()

original-dataframe 3 rows for California,
2 for DC and texas
         
single-column-stacked-plot Note how the legend follows the
same order as the actual column.
This makes your plot easier to read.

Stacked bar plot with group by, normalized to 100%

A plot where the columns sum up to 100%.

Similar to the example above but:

  • normalize the values by dividing by the total amounts

  • use percentage tick labels for the y axis

Example: Plot percentage count of records by state

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import matplotlib.ticker as mtick

# create dummy variable then group by that
# set the legend to false because we'll fix it later
df.assign(dummy = 1).groupby(
  ['dummy','state']
).size().groupby(level=0).apply(
    lambda x: 100 * x / x.sum()
).to_frame().unstack().plot(kind='bar',stacked=True,legend=False)

# or it'll show up as 'dummy' 
plt.xlabel('state')

# disable ticks in the x axis
plt.xticks([])

# fix the legend or it'll include the dummy variable
current_handles, _ = plt.gca().get_legend_handles_labels()
reversed_handles = reversed(current_handles)
correct_labels = reversed(df['state'].unique())

plt.legend(reversed_handles,correct_labels)

plt.gca().yaxis.set_major_formatter(mtick.PercentFormatter())
plt.show()

source-dataframe Source dataframe
number-of-people-by-state-normalized Record count grouped by state only, summing up to 100%

Stacked bar plot, two-level group by

Just do a normal groupby() and call unstack():

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import pandas as pd

df.groupby(['state','gender']).size().unstack().plot(kind='bar',stacked=True)
plt.show()

source-dataframe Source dataframe
number-unique-names-per-state Stacked bar chart showing the number of people
per state, split into males and females

Another example: count the people by gender, spliting by state:

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import pandas as pd

df.groupby(['gender','state']).size().unstack().plot(kind='bar',stacked=True)
plt.show()

source-dataframe Source dataframe
number-of-people-by-gender Now grouped by 'state' and 'gender'

Stacked bar plot with two-level group by, normalized to 100%

Sometimes you are only ever interested in the distributions, not raw amounts:

import matplotlib.ticker as mtick
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

df.groupby(['gender','state']).size().groupby(level=0).apply(
    lambda x: 100 * x / x.sum()
).unstack().plot(kind='bar',stacked=True)

plt.gca().yaxis.set_major_formatter(mtick.PercentFormatter())
plt.show()

source-dataframe Source dataframe
number-of-people-by-gender-and-state-normalized Record count grouped by state and gender, with normalized columns
so that each sums up to 100%