Question

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

gridnumber = range(1,4)

b1 = plt.bar(gridnumber, [0.2, 0.3, 0.1], width=0.4,
                label="Bar 1", align="center")

b2 = plt.bar(gridnumber, [0.3, 0.2, 0.2], color="red", width=0.4,
                label="Bar 2", align="center")


plt.ylim([0,0.5])
plt.xlim([0,4])
plt.xticks(gridnumber)
plt.legend()
plt.show()

Currently b1 and b2 overlap each other. How do I plot them separately like so:

Answer 1

There is an example in the matplotlib site. Basically, you just shift the x values by width. Here is the relevant bit:

import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

N = 5
menMeans = (20, 35, 30, 35, 27)
menStd =   (2, 3, 4, 1, 2)

ind = np.arange(N)  # the x locations for the groups
width = 0.35       # the width of the bars

fig = plt.figure()
ax = fig.add_subplot(111)
rects1 = ax.bar(ind, menMeans, width, color='royalblue', yerr=menStd)

womenMeans = (25, 32, 34, 20, 25)
womenStd =   (3, 5, 2, 3, 3)
rects2 = ax.bar(ind+width, womenMeans, width, color='seagreen', yerr=womenStd)

# add some
ax.set_ylabel('Scores')
ax.set_title('Scores by group and gender')
ax.set_xticks(ind + width / 2)
ax.set_xticklabels( ('G1', 'G2', 'G3', 'G4', 'G5') )

ax.legend( (rects1[0], rects2[0]), ('Men', 'Women') )

plt.show()