Remove xticks in a matplotlib plot?
PythonMatplotlibPlotPython Problem Overview
I have a semilogx plot and I would like to remove the xticks. I tried:
plt.gca().set_xticks([])
plt.xticks([])
ax.set_xticks([])
The grid disappears (ok), but small ticks (at the place of the main ticks) remain. How to remove them?
Python Solutions
Solution 1 - Python
The plt.tick_params method is very useful for stuff like this. This code turns off major and minor ticks and removes the labels from the x-axis.
Note that there is also ax.tick_params for matplotlib.axes.Axes objects.
from matplotlib import pyplot as plt
plt.plot(range(10))
plt.tick_params(
axis='x', # changes apply to the x-axis
which='both', # both major and minor ticks are affected
bottom=False, # ticks along the bottom edge are off
top=False, # ticks along the top edge are off
labelbottom=False) # labels along the bottom edge are off
plt.show()
plt.savefig('plot')
plt.clf()
Solution 2 - Python
Not exactly what the OP was asking for, but a simple way to disable all axes lines, ticks and labels is to simply call:
plt.axis('off')
Solution 3 - Python
Alternatively, you can pass an empty tick position and label as
# for matplotlib.pyplot
# ---------------------
plt.xticks([], [])
# for axis object
# ---------------
# from Anakhand May 5 at 13:08
# for major ticks
ax.set_xticks([])
# for minor ticks
ax.set_xticks([], minor=True)
Solution 4 - Python
Here is an alternative solution that I found on the matplotlib mailing list:
import matplotlib.pylab as plt
x = range(1000)
ax = plt.axes()
ax.semilogx(x, x)
ax.xaxis.set_ticks_position('none')
Solution 5 - Python
There is a better, and simpler, solution than the one given by John Vinyard. Use NullLocator:
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
plt.plot(range(10))
plt.gca().xaxis.set_major_locator(plt.NullLocator())
plt.show()
plt.savefig('plot')
Hope that helps.
Solution 6 - Python
Try this to remove the labels (but not the ticks):
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
plt.setp( ax.get_xticklabels(), visible=False)
Solution 7 - Python
This snippet might help in removing the xticks only.
from matplotlib import pyplot as plt
plt.xticks([])
This snippet might help in removing the xticks and yticks both.
from matplotlib import pyplot as plt
plt.xticks([]),plt.yticks([])
Solution 8 - Python
Those of you looking for a short command to switch off all ticks and labels should be fine with
plt.tick_params(top=False, bottom=False, left=False, right=False,
labelleft=False, labelbottom=False)
which allows type bool for respective parameters since version matplotlib>=2.1.1
For custom tick settings, the docs are helpful:
https://matplotlib.org/api/_as_gen/matplotlib.axes.Axes.tick_params.html
Solution 9 - Python
# remove all the ticks (both axes), and tick labels on the Y axis
plt.tick_params(top='off', bottom='off', left='off', right='off', labelleft='off', labelbottom='on')
Solution 10 - Python
Modify the following rc parameters by adding the commands to the script:
plt.rcParams['xtick.bottom'] = False
plt.rcParams['xtick.labelbottom'] = False
A sample matplotlibrc file is depicted in this section of the matplotlib documentation, which lists many other parameters like changing figure size, color of figure, animation settings, etc.