How to modify the interval of the axis ticks in matplotlib ?

Modifying the interval of axis ticks in matplotlib can be easily done using the xticks() or yticks() methods. Examples

Default values of xticks

First, let's create a simple plot as a reference.

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

ax = plt.subplot(111)

x = [1,2,3,4,5]
y = [4,1,3,6,1]

plt.scatter(x,y)

plt.grid()

plt.title('How to modify the interval of the axis ticks in matplotlib ?')

plt.savefig('modify_interval_of_the_axis_ticks_in_matplotlib_01.png')

plt.show()

Modify the interval of the axis ticks using xticks()

One solution for adjusting the ticks on the x-axis is using the function xticks() and providing a list of values as an argument.

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

ax = plt.subplot(111)

x = [1,2,3,4,5]
y = [4,1,3,6,1]

plt.scatter(x,y)

xticks_pos = [i/2.0 for i in range(12)]

plt.xticks(xticks_pos)

plt.grid()

plt.title('How to modify the interval of the axis ticks in matplotlib ?')

plt.savefig('modify_interval_of_the_axis_ticks_in_matplotlib_02.png')

plt.show()

Output

Rotating xtick labels

Please note that you can use the method "xtick" to rotate the tick labels:

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

ax = plt.subplot(111)

x = [1,2,3,4,5]
y = [4,1,3,6,1]

plt.scatter(x,y)

xticks_pos = [i/3.0 for i in range(18)]

plt.xticks(xticks_pos, rotation=90)

plt.grid()

plt.title('How to modify the interval of the axis ticks in matplotlib ?')

plt.savefig('modify_interval_of_the_axis_ticks_in_matplotlib_03.png')

plt.show()

Changing xtick labels

Finally, you can also customize the labels:

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

ax = plt.subplot(111)

x = [1,2,3,4,5]
y = [4,1,3,6,1]

plt.scatter(x,y)

xticks_pos = [i/2.0 for i in range(12)]
xticks_labels = [l for l in 'abcdefghijkl' ]

plt.xticks(xticks_pos,xticks_labels)

plt.grid()

plt.title('How to modify the interval of the axis ticks in matplotlib ?')

plt.savefig('modify_interval_of_the_axis_ticks_in_matplotlib_04.png')

plt.show()

References