Question

How can I set a default set of colors for plots made with matplotlib? I can set a particular color map like this

import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

fig=plt.figure(i)
ax=plt.gca()
colormap = plt.get_cmap('jet')
ax.set_color_cycle([colormap(k) for k in np.linspace(0, 1, 10)])

but is there some way to set the same set of colors for all plots, including subplots?

Answer 1

Sure! Either specify axes.color_cycle in your .matplotlibrc file or set it at runtime using matplotlib.rcParams or matplotlib.rc.

As an example of the latter:

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import matplotlib as mpl
import numpy as np

# Set the default color cycle
mpl.rcParams['axes.prop_cycle'] = mpl.cycler(color=["r", "k", "c"]) 

x = np.linspace(0, 20, 100)

fig, axes = plt.subplots(nrows=2)

for i in range(10):
    axes[0].plot(x, i * (x - 10)**2)

for i in range(10):
    axes[1].plot(x, i * np.cos(x))

plt.show()