How to add hovering annotations in matplotlib
PythonMatplotlibSeabornMplcursorsPython Problem Overview
I am using matplotlib to make scatter plots. Each point on the scatter plot is associated with a named object. I would like to be able to see the name of an object when I hover my cursor over the point on the scatter plot associated with that object. In particular, it would be nice to be able to quickly see the names of the points that are outliers. The closest thing I have been able to find while searching here is the annotate command, but that appears to create a fixed label on the plot. Unfortunately, with the number of points that I have, the scatter plot would be unreadable if I labeled each point. Does anyone know of a way to create labels that only appear when the cursor hovers in the vicinity of that point?
Python Solutions
Solution 1 - Python
It seems none of the other answers here actually answer the question. So here is a code that uses a scatter and shows an annotation upon hovering over the scatter points.
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np; np.random.seed(1)
x = np.random.rand(15)
y = np.random.rand(15)
names = np.array(list("ABCDEFGHIJKLMNO"))
c = np.random.randint(1,5,size=15)
norm = plt.Normalize(1,4)
cmap = plt.cm.RdYlGn
fig,ax = plt.subplots()
sc = plt.scatter(x,y,c=c, s=100, cmap=cmap, norm=norm)
annot = ax.annotate("", xy=(0,0), xytext=(20,20),textcoords="offset points",
bbox=dict(boxstyle="round", fc="w"),
arrowprops=dict(arrowstyle="->"))
annot.set_visible(False)
def update_annot(ind):
pos = sc.get_offsets()[ind["ind"][0]]
annot.xy = pos
text = "{}, {}".format(" ".join(list(map(str,ind["ind"]))),
" ".join([names[n] for n in ind["ind"]]))
annot.set_text(text)
annot.get_bbox_patch().set_facecolor(cmap(norm(c[ind["ind"][0]])))
annot.get_bbox_patch().set_alpha(0.4)
def hover(event):
vis = annot.get_visible()
if event.inaxes == ax:
cont, ind = sc.contains(event)
if cont:
update_annot(ind)
annot.set_visible(True)
fig.canvas.draw_idle()
else:
if vis:
annot.set_visible(False)
fig.canvas.draw_idle()
fig.canvas.mpl_connect("motion_notify_event", hover)
plt.show()
Because people also want to use this solution for a line plot instead of a scatter, the following would be the same solution for plot (which works slightly differently).
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np; np.random.seed(1)
x = np.sort(np.random.rand(15))
y = np.sort(np.random.rand(15))
names = np.array(list("ABCDEFGHIJKLMNO"))
norm = plt.Normalize(1,4)
cmap = plt.cm.RdYlGn
fig,ax = plt.subplots()
line, = plt.plot(x,y, marker="o")
annot = ax.annotate("", xy=(0,0), xytext=(-20,20),textcoords="offset points",
bbox=dict(boxstyle="round", fc="w"),
arrowprops=dict(arrowstyle="->"))
annot.set_visible(False)
def update_annot(ind):
x,y = line.get_data()
annot.xy = (x[ind["ind"][0]], y[ind["ind"][0]])
text = "{}, {}".format(" ".join(list(map(str,ind["ind"]))),
" ".join([names[n] for n in ind["ind"]]))
annot.set_text(text)
annot.get_bbox_patch().set_alpha(0.4)
def hover(event):
vis = annot.get_visible()
if event.inaxes == ax:
cont, ind = line.contains(event)
if cont:
update_annot(ind)
annot.set_visible(True)
fig.canvas.draw_idle()
else:
if vis:
annot.set_visible(False)
fig.canvas.draw_idle()
fig.canvas.mpl_connect("motion_notify_event", hover)
plt.show()
In case someone is looking for a solution for lines in twin axes, refer to https://stackoverflow.com/questions/55891285/how-to-make-labels-appear-when-hovering-over-a-point-in-multiple-axis/55892690#55892690
In case someone is looking for a solution for bar plots, please refer to e.g. this answer.
Solution 2 - Python
This solution works when hovering a line without the need to click it:
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
# Need to create as global variable so our callback(on_plot_hover) can access
fig = plt.figure()
plot = fig.add_subplot(111)
# create some curves
for i in range(4):
# Giving unique ids to each data member
plot.plot(
[i*1,i*2,i*3,i*4],
gid=i)
def on_plot_hover(event):
# Iterating over each data member plotted
for curve in plot.get_lines():
# Searching which data member corresponds to current mouse position
if curve.contains(event)[0]:
print("over %s" % curve.get_gid())
fig.canvas.mpl_connect('motion_notify_event', on_plot_hover)
plt.show()
Solution 3 - Python
From http://matplotlib.sourceforge.net/examples/event_handling/pick_event_demo.html :
from matplotlib.pyplot import figure, show
import numpy as npy
from numpy.random import rand
if 1: # picking on a scatter plot (matplotlib.collections.RegularPolyCollection)
x, y, c, s = rand(4, 100)
def onpick3(event):
ind = event.ind
print('onpick3 scatter:', ind, npy.take(x, ind), npy.take(y, ind))
fig = figure()
ax1 = fig.add_subplot(111)
col = ax1.scatter(x, y, 100*s, c, picker=True)
#fig.savefig('pscoll.eps')
fig.canvas.mpl_connect('pick_event', onpick3)
show()
- This recipe draws an annotation on picking a data point: http://scipy-cookbook.readthedocs.io/items/Matplotlib_Interactive_Plotting.html .
- This recipe draws a tooltip, but it requires wxPython: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4453143/point-and-line-tooltips-in-matplotlib/4620352#4620352
Solution 4 - Python
My solution is as simple as:
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import mplcursors
plt.plot(...)
mplcursors.cursor(hover=True)
plt.show()
YOu can get something like
Solution 5 - Python
A slight edit on an example provided in http://matplotlib.org/users/shell.html:
import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
fig = plt.figure()
ax = fig.add_subplot(111)
ax.set_title('click on points')
line, = ax.plot(np.random.rand(100), '-', picker=5) # 5 points tolerance
def onpick(event):
thisline = event.artist
xdata = thisline.get_xdata()
ydata = thisline.get_ydata()
ind = event.ind
print('onpick points:', *zip(xdata[ind], ydata[ind]))
fig.canvas.mpl_connect('pick_event', onpick)
plt.show()
This plots a straight line plot, as Sohaib was asking
Solution 6 - Python
The other answers did not address my need for properly showing tooltips in a recent version of Jupyter inline matplotlib figure. This one works though:
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np
import mplcursors
np.random.seed(42)
fig, ax = plt.subplots()
ax.scatter(*np.random.random((2, 26)))
ax.set_title("Mouse over a point")
crs = mplcursors.cursor(ax,hover=True)
crs.connect("add", lambda sel: sel.annotation.set_text(
'Point {},{}'.format(sel.target[0], sel.target[1])))
plt.show()
Leading to something like the following picture when going over a point with mouse:
Solution 7 - Python
mpld3 solve it for me. EDIT (CODE ADDED):
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np
import mpld3
fig, ax = plt.subplots(subplot_kw=dict(axisbg='#EEEEEE'))
N = 100
scatter = ax.scatter(np.random.normal(size=N),
np.random.normal(size=N),
c=np.random.random(size=N),
s=1000 * np.random.random(size=N),
alpha=0.3,
cmap=plt.cm.jet)
ax.grid(color='white', linestyle='solid')
ax.set_title("Scatter Plot (with tooltips!)", size=20)
labels = ['point {0}'.format(i + 1) for i in range(N)]
tooltip = mpld3.plugins.PointLabelTooltip(scatter, labels=labels)
mpld3.plugins.connect(fig, tooltip)
mpld3.show()
You can check this example
Solution 8 - Python
mplcursors worked for me. mplcursors provides clickable annotation for matplotlib. It is heavily inspired from mpldatacursor (https://github.com/joferkington/mpldatacursor), with a much simplified API
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np
import mplcursors
data = np.outer(range(10), range(1, 5))
fig, ax = plt.subplots()
lines = ax.plot(data)
ax.set_title("Click somewhere on a line.\nRight-click to deselect.\n"
"Annotations can be dragged.")
mplcursors.cursor(lines) # or just mplcursors.cursor()
plt.show()
Solution 9 - Python
showing object information in matplotlib statusbar
Features
- no extra libraries needed
- clean plot
- no overlap of labels and artists
- supports multi artist labeling
- can handle artists from different plotting calls (like
scatter,plot,add_patch) - code in library style
Code
### imports
import matplotlib as mpl
import matplotlib.pylab as plt
import numpy as np
# https://stackoverflow.com/a/47166787/7128154
# https://matplotlib.org/3.3.3/api/collections_api.html#matplotlib.collections.PathCollection
# https://matplotlib.org/3.3.3/api/path_api.html#matplotlib.path.Path
# https://stackoverflow.com/questions/15876011/add-information-to-matplotlib-navigation-toolbar-status-bar
# https://stackoverflow.com/questions/36730261/matplotlib-path-contains-point
# https://stackoverflow.com/a/36335048/7128154
class StatusbarHoverManager:
"""
Manage hover information for mpl.axes.Axes object based on appearing
artists.
Attributes
----------
ax : mpl.axes.Axes
subplot to show status information
artists : list of mpl.artist.Artist
elements on the subplot, which react to mouse over
labels : list (list of strings) or strings
each element on the top level corresponds to an artist.
if the artist has items
(i.e. second return value of contains() has key 'ind'),
the element has to be of type list.
otherwise the element if of type string
cid : to reconnect motion_notify_event
"""
def __init__(self, ax):
assert isinstance(ax, mpl.axes.Axes)
def hover(event):
if event.inaxes != ax:
return
info = 'x={:.2f}, y={:.2f}'.format(event.xdata, event.ydata)
ax.format_coord = lambda x, y: info
cid = ax.figure.canvas.mpl_connect("motion_notify_event", hover)
self.ax = ax
self.cid = cid
self.artists = []
self.labels = []
def add_artist_labels(self, artist, label):
if isinstance(artist, list):
assert len(artist) == 1
artist = artist[0]
self.artists += [artist]
self.labels += [label]
def hover(event):
if event.inaxes != self.ax:
return
info = 'x={:.2f}, y={:.2f}'.format(event.xdata, event.ydata)
for aa, artist in enumerate(self.artists):
cont, dct = artist.contains(event)
if not cont:
continue
inds = dct.get('ind')
if inds is not None: # artist contains items
for ii in inds:
lbl = self.labels[aa][ii]
info += '; artist [{:d}, {:d}]: {:}'.format(
aa, ii, lbl)
else:
lbl = self.labels[aa]
info += '; artist [{:d}]: {:}'.format(aa, lbl)
self.ax.format_coord = lambda x, y: info
self.ax.figure.canvas.mpl_disconnect(self.cid)
self.cid = self.ax.figure.canvas.mpl_connect(
"motion_notify_event", hover)
def demo_StatusbarHoverManager():
fig, ax = plt.subplots()
shm = StatusbarHoverManager(ax)
poly = mpl.patches.Polygon(
[[0,0], [3, 5], [5, 4], [6,1]], closed=True, color='green', zorder=0)
artist = ax.add_patch(poly)
shm.add_artist_labels(artist, 'polygon')
artist = ax.scatter([2.5, 1, 2, 3], [6, 1, 1, 7], c='blue', s=10**2)
lbls = ['point ' + str(ii) for ii in range(4)]
shm.add_artist_labels(artist, lbls)
artist = ax.plot(
[0, 0, 1, 5, 3], [0, 1, 1, 0, 2], marker='o', color='red')
lbls = ['segment ' + str(ii) for ii in range(5)]
shm.add_artist_labels(artist, lbls)
plt.show()
# --- main
if __name__== "__main__":
demo_StatusbarHoverManager()
Solution 10 - Python
I have made a multi-line annotation system to add to: https://stackoverflow.com/a/47166787/10302020. for the most up to date version: https://github.com/AidenBurgess/MultiAnnotationLineGraph
Simply change the data in the bottom section.
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
def update_annot(ind, line, annot, ydata):
x, y = line.get_data()
annot.xy = (x[ind["ind"][0]], y[ind["ind"][0]])
# Get x and y values, then format them to be displayed
x_values = " ".join(list(map(str, ind["ind"])))
y_values = " ".join(str(ydata[n]) for n in ind["ind"])
text = "{}, {}".format(x_values, y_values)
annot.set_text(text)
annot.get_bbox_patch().set_alpha(0.4)
def hover(event, line_info):
line, annot, ydata = line_info
vis = annot.get_visible()
if event.inaxes == ax:
# Draw annotations if cursor in right position
cont, ind = line.contains(event)
if cont:
update_annot(ind, line, annot, ydata)
annot.set_visible(True)
fig.canvas.draw_idle()
else:
# Don't draw annotations
if vis:
annot.set_visible(False)
fig.canvas.draw_idle()
def plot_line(x, y):
line, = plt.plot(x, y, marker="o")
# Annotation style may be changed here
annot = ax.annotate("", xy=(0, 0), xytext=(-20, 20), textcoords="offset points",
bbox=dict(boxstyle="round", fc="w"),
arrowprops=dict(arrowstyle="->"))
annot.set_visible(False)
line_info = [line, annot, y]
fig.canvas.mpl_connect("motion_notify_event",
lambda event: hover(event, line_info))
# Your data values to plot
x1 = range(21)
y1 = range(0, 21)
x2 = range(21)
y2 = range(0, 42, 2)
# Plot line graphs
fig, ax = plt.subplots()
plot_line(x1, y1)
plot_line(x2, y2)
plt.show()
Solution 11 - Python
Based off Markus Dutschke" and "ImportanceOfBeingErnest", I (imo) simplified the code and made it more modular.
Also this doesn't require additional packages to be installed.
import matplotlib.pylab as plt
import numpy as np
plt.close('all')
fh, ax = plt.subplots()
#Generate some data
y,x = np.histogram(np.random.randn(10000), bins=500)
x = x[:-1]
colors = ['#0000ff', '#00ff00','#ff0000']
x2, y2 = x,y/10
x3, y3 = x, np.random.randn(500)*10+40
#Plot
h1 = ax.plot(x, y, color=colors[0])
h2 = ax.plot(x2, y2, color=colors[1])
h3 = ax.scatter(x3, y3, color=colors[2], s=1)
artists = h1 + h2 + [h3] #concatenating lists
labels = [list('ABCDE'*100),list('FGHIJ'*100),list('klmno'*100)] #define labels shown
#___ Initialize annotation arrow
annot = ax.annotate("", xy=(0,0), xytext=(20,20),textcoords="offset points",
bbox=dict(boxstyle="round", fc="w"),
arrowprops=dict(arrowstyle="->"))
annot.set_visible(False)
def on_plot_hover(event):
if event.inaxes != ax: #exit if mouse is not on figure
return
is_vis = annot.get_visible() #check if an annotation is visible
# x,y = event.xdata,event.ydata #coordinates of mouse in graph
for ii, artist in enumerate(artists):
is_contained, dct = artist.contains(event)
if(is_contained):
if('get_data' in dir(artist)): #for plot
data = list(zip(*artist.get_data()))
elif('get_offsets' in dir(artist)): #for scatter
data = artist.get_offsets().data
inds = dct['ind'] #get which data-index is under the mouse
#___ Set Annotation settings
xy = data[inds[0]] #get 1st position only
annot.xy = xy
annot.set_text(f'pos={xy},text={labels[ii][inds[0]]}')
annot.get_bbox_patch().set_edgecolor(colors[ii])
annot.get_bbox_patch().set_alpha(0.7)
annot.set_visible(True)
fh.canvas.draw_idle()
else:
if is_vis:
annot.set_visible(False) #disable when not hovering
fh.canvas.draw_idle()
fh.canvas.mpl_connect('motion_notify_event', on_plot_hover)
Giving the following result:
