Plotnine: ggplot in python

⏱ Quick start

Before using plotnine you need to install it. This can easily be done with pip:

pip install plotnine

The Grammar of Graphics is a way of thinking about how to build graphs. It is based on the idea that you can build a graph by adding layers to it. In this example, we add a layer of points to a graph.

Once installed, you can either import all the functions from the library with from plotnine import * or import only the functions you need with from plotnine import ggplot, geom_point.

Most basic plotnine chart

# Load plotnine
from plotnine import ggplot, geom_point, aes
import pandas as pd

# Sample data
x = [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10]
y = [10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1]
df = pd.DataFrame({'x':x, 'y':y})

# Create a chart
(
ggplot(df, aes(x='x', y='y')) +
    geom_point()
)

Scatter plot with plotnine

Scatter plots are a great way to visualize the relationship between two numerical variables. The plotnine library makes it easy to thanks to its geom_point() function.

Most basic scatterplot with plotnine

Change color markers

Color by group

Change marker size

Changer marker shape

Changer marker transparency

Custom edge colors

Bar plot with plotnine

Bar plots are a great way to visualize the relationship between a categorical variable and a numerical one. The plotnine library makes it easy thanks to its geom_bar() function.

The following examples show how to create a basic bar plot with plotnine and how to customize it.

Most simple barplot

Change color and edge color

Custom width of the bars

Define one specific color per bar

Color bars according to a variable

Flip the x and y axis

Histogram with plotnine

Bar plots are a great way to visualize the distribution of a numerical variable. The plotnine library makes it easy thanks to its geom_histogram() function.

The following examples show how to create a basic histogram with plotnine and how to customize it.

Most basic histogram with plotnine

Control bar color

Custom style with theme, colors and opacity

Split histogram by group

Mirror histogram to compare 2 variables

Change theme with plotnine

Plotnine allows to change the theme of the chart. This can easily be done by adding theme_* functions to the chart.

White theme with plotnine

Dark theme with plotnine

Theme withouth grid lines