CODEWITHSUNDEEP
matplotlib
Vlas Sokolov
Vlas Sokolov

Reputation: 3913

get axes ticks in matplotlib before drawing the figure

How to get tick labels for a matplotlib axis without invoking plt.show first? I am trying to set up a bunch of subplots, manipulate their window limits and tick labels, and then bring it all on the screen together. However, get_xticklabels() method returns empty strings unless plt.show is called:

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
fig, ax = plt.subplots(1, 1)
ax.plot(1, 1)    

print("before plt.show(): {}".format(ax.get_xticklabels()[0].get_text()))
plt.show()
print("after plt.show(): {}".format(ax.get_xticklabels()[0].get_text()))

Output:

In [33]: %run plt_premature_ticks.py
before plt.show():
after plt.show(): 0.94

Is it not an expected behavior to try getting the labels before the figure is actually shown?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 1995

Answers (2)

Vlas Sokolov
Vlas Sokolov

Reputation: 3913

While HYRY gave a correct answer to the original question, I've come across a few cases where one would need to call the draw method of an axis instance to get the tick labels visible. In that case, the following should be called:

renderer = fig.canvas.get_renderer()
ax.draw(renderer)

Upvotes: 1

HYRY
HYRY

Reputation: 97331

Add fig.canvas.draw() before ax.get_xticklabels():

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
fig, ax = plt.subplots(1, 1)
ax.plot(1, 1)    
fig.canvas.draw()
print("before plt.show(): {}".format(ax.get_xticklabels()[0].get_text()))
plt.show()
print("after plt.show(): {}".format(ax.get_xticklabels()[0].get_text()))

Upvotes: 4

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