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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-06-15T06:29:36+00:00

Say I have a matplotlib axes called ax , and I want to set

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Say I have a matplotlib axes called ax, and I want to set several of its properties. Currently, I do it like this:

ax.set_yscale('log')
ax.set_xlim([0,10])
ax.set_xlabel('some label')

But it gets tedious after a while. Then I ran into this method:

ax.set(yscale='log', xlim=[0,10], xlabel='some label')

Much more concise, but it seems a bit undocumented. I mean all the documentation says is “A tkstyle set command, pass kwargs to set properties”.

What is the preferred or idiomatic way?
Is the set method api stable?

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    Pyplot tutorial appears to recommend ax.set_xxx() functions, but also mentions .setp(xxx=).

    On the other hand, .set(xxx=) function is not used and .setp(xxx=), while documented, is not used in any examples (Pyplot API).

    I understand it that matplotlib supports both imperative programming style and matlab-like style. Reason being the target user bases — those already familiar with Python and those who used Matlab before.

    I conclude that matplotlib recommended api is .set_xxx().

    A quick check through the gallery confirms this.

    Edit: it appears there are examples of both in the gallery now.

    Similar duality exists for keyword arguments to plot functions, except that imperative API is not that obvious.

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