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Feature request: show bars in plt.hist #12874
Description
Feature request
Summary
With the new style of plotting (after version 1.5), you cannot distinguish the bars on plt.hist. Take for example the old way:
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import random
l_n = []
for _ in range(2000):
l_n.append(random.betavariate(5, 25))
with plt.style.context('classic'):
plt.hist(l_n, bins=20)
plt.show()Unfortunately, I cannot upload images. Nevertheless, you can see the bars. Now, this:
plt.hist(l_n, bins=20)
plt.show()You only see the silhouette of the histogram, not the bars. An easy way to solve this:
plt.hist(l_n, bins=20, edgecolor='w')
plt.show()edgecolor='w' would be the default option (I would prefer white because it looks good with all the styles). What do you think?
By the way, if you want to compare with other software, I think all of them show bars. And a quick search shows...
Matplotlib version
- Operating system: Ubuntu 16.04.5 LTS
- Matplotlib version: 3.0.1
- Matplotlib backend (
print(matplotlib.get_backend())): Qt5Agg - Python version: 3.6.6
- Jupyter version (if applicable): 7.1.1
- Other libraries:
- How I installed matplotlib: conda
Activity
jklymak commentedon Nov 24, 2018
plt.hist(l_n, bins=20, edgecolor='w')works fine, so are you asking that this be the default? I'd not particularly support that. On the other hand maybe ahist.edgecolorrcparam could be considered (I didn't see one, though you canpatch.force_edgecolor.anntzer commentedon Nov 24, 2018
Discussed #12493 as well.
rosgori commentedon Nov 25, 2018
Yes, I agree with you that
edgecolor='w'might not be the best option.Besides, I didn't know that a change in these two lines
matplotlib/matplotlibrc.template
Lines 107 to 108 in bd7829d
achieves what I am looking for.
So... do you think this feature should be included in matplotlib (either with a new parameter
hist.edgecoloror a change inpatch.force_edgecoloror with another solution)?timhoffm commentedon Nov 25, 2018
I agree that bars in histograms should be visually separate. The current default behavior is not good.
A hard coded default
edgecolor='w'can break styles.Rcparams
patch.edgecolorandpatch.force_edgecolorare too global in their scope.Therefore a
hist.edgecolorrcparam is the reasonable way to go.github-actions commentedon Nov 3, 2023
This issue has been marked "inactive" because it has been 365 days since the last comment. If this issue is still present in recent Matplotlib releases, or the feature request is still wanted, please leave a comment and this label will be removed. If there are no updates in another 30 days, this issue will be automatically closed, but you are free to re-open or create a new issue if needed. We value issue reports, and this procedure is meant to help us resurface and prioritize issues that have not been addressed yet, not make them disappear. Thanks for your help!