How to Rotate X-Axis Tick Label Text in Matplotlib

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Jinku Hu Feb 02, 2024
Matplotlib Matplotlib Axes Matplotlib Ticks
  1. plt.xticks(rotation= ) to Rotate Xticks Label Text
  2. fig.autofmt_xdate(rotation= ) to Rotate Xticks Label Text
  3. ax.set_xticklabels(xlabels, Rotation= ) to Rotate Xticks Label Text
  4. plt.setp(ax.get_xticklabels(), Rotation=) to Rotate Xticks Label Text
  5. ax.tick_params(axis='x', Labelrotation= ) to Rotate Xticks Label Text
  6. Rotated xticklabels Aligning
How to Rotate X-Axis Tick Label Text in Matplotlib

In this tutorial article, we will introduce different methods to rotate X-axis tick label text in Python label. It includes,

  • plt.xticks(rotation= )
  • fig.autofmt_xdate(rotation= )
  • ax.set_xticklabels(xlabels, rotation= )
  • plt.setp(ax.get_xticklabels(), rotation=)
  • ax.tick_params(axis='x', labelrotation= )

The default orientation of the text of tick labels in the x-axis is horizontal or 0 degree. It brings inconvience if the tick label text is too long, like overlapping between adjacent label texts.

Matplotlib rotate x-axis tick label_no rotation

The codes to create the above figure is,

from matplotlib import pyplot as plt
from datetime import datetime, timedelta

values = range(10)
dates = [datetime.now() - timedelta(days=_) for _ in range(10)]

fig, ax = plt.subplots()
plt.plot(dates, values)
plt.grid(True)

plt.show()

plt.xticks(rotation= ) to Rotate Xticks Label Text

from matplotlib import pyplot as plt
from datetime import datetime, timedelta

values = range(10)
dates = [datetime.now() - timedelta(days=_) for _ in range(10)]

fig, ax = plt.subplots()
plt.plot(dates, values)
plt.xticks(rotation=45)
plt.grid(True)

plt.show()

plt.xticks(rotation=45)

plt.xticks gets or sets the properties of tick locations and labels of the x-axis.

rotation is the counter-clockwise rotation angle of x-axis label text.

Matplotlib rotate x-axis tick label_xticks rotation

fig.autofmt_xdate(rotation= ) to Rotate Xticks Label Text

from matplotlib import pyplot as plt
from datetime import datetime, timedelta

values = range(10)
dates = [datetime.now() - timedelta(days=_) for _ in range(10)]

fig, ax = plt.subplots()
plt.plot(dates, values)
fig.autofmt_xdate(rotation=45)
plt.grid(True)

plt.show()

autofmt_xdate rotates the tick labels and right aligns them automatically if the label is date object.

But it works actually not only with the date object but also normal label text string.

from matplotlib import pyplot as plt
from datetime import datetime, timedelta

values = range(10)
dates = [datetime.now() - timedelta(days=_) for _ in range(10)]
xlabels = [
    "Zero",
    "One",
    "Two",
    "Three",
    "Four",
    "Five",
    "Six",
    "Seven",
    "Eight",
    "Nine",
]

fig, ax = plt.subplots()
plt.plot(dates, values)
ax.set_xticklabels(xlabels)
fig.autofmt_xdate(rotation=45)
plt.grid(True)

plt.show()

Matplotlib rotate x-axis tick label_autofmt_xdate

ax.set_xticklabels(xlabels, Rotation= ) to Rotate Xticks Label Text

set_xticklabels sets the x-tick labels with list of string labels.

This list of string labels could be a newly specified list or the current plot’s existing label list read by get_xticklabels().

from matplotlib import pyplot as plt
from datetime import datetime, timedelta

values = range(10)
dates = [datetime.now() - timedelta(days=_) for _ in range(10)]
xlabels = [
    datetime.strftime(datetime.now() - timedelta(days=_), "%m/%d/%Y") for _ in range(10)
]

fig, ax = plt.subplots()
plt.plot(dates, values)
ax.set_xticklabels(xlabels, rotation=45, ha="right")
plt.grid(True)

plt.show()

Matplotlib rotate x-axis tick label_set_xticklabels

plt.setp(ax.get_xticklabels(), Rotation=) to Rotate Xticks Label Text

matplotlib.pyplot.setp sets a property on an artist object.

plt.setp(ax.get_xticklabels(), rotation=) sets the rotation property of xtick labels object.

from matplotlib import pyplot as plt
from datetime import datetime, timedelta

values = range(10)
dates = [datetime.now() - timedelta(days=_) for _ in range(10)]
xlabels = [
    datetime.strftime(datetime.now() - timedelta(days=_), "%m/%d/%Y") for _ in range(10)
]

fig, ax = plt.subplots()
plt.plot(dates, values)
plt.setp(ax.get_xticklabels(), rotation=45, ha="right")
plt.grid(True)

plt.tight_layout()

plt.show()

ax.tick_params(axis='x', Labelrotation= ) to Rotate Xticks Label Text

tick_params sets the parameters of ticks, tick labels and gridlines.

ax.tick_params(axis='x', labelrotation= ) sets the labelrotation property of tick label in x axis, or in other words, X-axis.

from matplotlib import pyplot as plt
from datetime import datetime, timedelta

values = range(10)
dates = [datetime.now() - timedelta(days=_) for _ in range(10)]
xlabels = [
    datetime.strftime(datetime.now() - timedelta(days=_), "%m/%d/%Y") for _ in range(10)
]

fig, ax = plt.subplots()
plt.plot(dates, values)

ax.tick_params(axis="x", labelrotation=45)
plt.grid(True)

plt.show()

Rotated xticklabels Aligning

we use argument ha='right' in the above example codes, which means horizontal alignment is right.

ha='right' aligns the right end of the label text to the ticks.

ha='left' aligns the left end of the label text to the ticks.

ha='center' aligns the center of the label text to the ticks.

from matplotlib import pyplot as plt
from datetime import datetime, timedelta

xvalues = range(5)
yvalues = xvalues
xlabels = [
    datetime.strftime(datetime.now() - timedelta(days=_), "%m/%d/%Y") for _ in xvalues
]

alignment = ["right", "left", "center"]
fig, axes = plt.subplots(1, 3)


for n, ax in enumerate(axes):
    ax.plot(xvalues, yvalues)
    ax.set_title(alignment[n] + "alignment")
    ax.set_xticks(xvalues)
    ax.set_xticklabels(xlabels, rotation=45, ha=alignment[n])
    ax.grid(True)

plt.show()

Matplotlib rotate x-axis tick label_ha alignment

Author: Jinku Hu
Jinku Hu avatar Jinku Hu avatar

Founder of DelftStack.com. Jinku has worked in the robotics and automotive industries for over 8 years. He sharpened his coding skills when he needed to do the automatic testing, data collection from remote servers and report creation from the endurance test. He is from an electrical/electronics engineering background but has expanded his interest to embedded electronics, embedded programming and front-/back-end programming.

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