PlotEZ Documentation

PlotEZ - Mundane plotting made easy.

PlotEZ is a Python library that simplifies common matplotlib plotting tasks with an intuitive API. It provides convenient functions for creating single plots, dual-axis plots, and multi-panel figures with minimal boilerplate code.

Contents:

Features

  • Simple API: Create complex plots with just a few lines of code

  • Error Bar Plotting: Comprehensive error bar support with enhanced styling options

  • Error Band Plotting: Shaded error band support via plot_errorband, plot_errorband_relative, and ErrorBandConfig

  • Histogram & Density Plotting: plot_hist and plot_density with HistogramConfig / hgc

  • Dual-Axis Support: Easy creation of dual y-axis or dual x-axis plots

  • Multi-Panel Layouts: Flexible subplot arrangements with automatic labeling; layout (tight_layout) is fully user-controlled

  • File Integration: Direct plotting from CSV files

  • Axes-Only Returns: All functions return Axes (or shaped ndarray of Axes for grid functions); the parent Figure is always accessible via ax.get_figure()

  • Extensive Customization: Full control over plot appearance via independent config dataclasses

  • Convenience Wrappers: Short-form factory functions (lpc, epc, ebc, spc, hgc) available at top level

  • Custom Exceptions: Domain-specific exceptions for clear, catchable error handling

  • Type Safety: Complete type hints for better IDE support and type checking (PEP 561 compliant)

  • Well Tested: Comprehensive test suite with 85%+ coverage

Quick Example

import numpy as np
from plotez import plot_xy, plot_errorbar, epc

# Basic line plot
x = np.linspace(0, 10, 100)
y = np.sin(x)
plot_xy(x, y, x_label="X", y_label="Y", data_label=r"$\sin(x)$")

# Error bar plot with enhanced styling using the epc() convenience wrapper
x_sparse = np.linspace(0, 10, 20)
y_sparse = np.sin(x_sparse)
y_err = 0.1 * np.random.rand(len(y_sparse))

ep = epc(
    ls='-',
    c='blue',
    marker='o',
    capsize=5,
    ecolor='red',   # different colour for error bars
    elinewidth=1.5,
)
plot_errorbar(x_sparse, y_sparse, y_err=y_err, errorbar_config=ep)