A special object named rc, belonging to the RcConfigurator class, is created on import. This is your one-stop shop for working with builtin matplotlib global settings and the global settings added by proplot. Global settings can be changed on-the-fly using the rc object as follows:
import proplot as plot
plot.rc.name = value
plot.rc['name'] = value
plot.rc.update(name1=value1, name2=value2)
plot.rc.update({'name1': value1, 'name2': value2})
To apply settings to a particular axes, pass the setting to the format command using either of the following approaches:
import proplot as plot
fig, ax = plot.subplots()
ax.format(name1=value1, name2=value2)
ax.format(rc_kw={'name1': value1, 'name2': value2})
In all of these examples, if the setting name contains dots, you can simply omit the dots. For example, to change the rc[‘title.loc’] property, the following approaches are valid:
import proplot as plot
# Apply globally
plot.rc.titleloc = value
plot.rc.update(titleloc=value)
# Apply locally
fig, ax = plot.subplots()ax.format(titleloc=value)
Matplotlib settings
Details on the matplotlib settings can be found on this page.
ProPlot settings
ProPlot adds several settings to customize things not covered by matplotlib’s builtin settings. Some of these settings may be more accurately described as “meta-settings”, as they change several matplotlib settings at once (for example, rc.linewidth changes axes edge widths, gridline widths, and tick widths). Other settings are for specific features controlled by ProPlot, like a-b-c labels.
The subplots category controls the default layout for figures and axes. The abc, title, and tick categories control a-b-c label, title, and axis tick label settings. The suptitle, leftlabel, toplabel, rightlabel, and bottomlabel categories control figure title and edge label settings. There are two new additions to the image category, and the new colorbar category controls inset and outer colorbar properties. There is also a new gridminor category for minor gridline settings (note that gridminor inherits grid properties when they are changed). Finally, the land, ocean, rivers, lakes, borders, and innerborders categories control various GeoAxes settings.
KeyDescription
styleThe default matplotlib stylesheetname. IfNone, a custom proplot style is used. If 'default', the default matplotlib style is used.
abcBoolean, whether to draw a-b-c labels by default.
abc.borderBoolean, indicates whether to draw a white border around a-b-c labels when rc[‘abc.loc’]is inside the axes.
abc.borderwidthWidth of the white border around a-b-c labels.
abc.colora-b-c label color.
abc.loca-b-c label position. For options, see the title location table.
abc.sizea-b-c label font size.
abc.stylea-b-c label style. Must be string containing the character a or A, for example 'a.' or '(A)'.
abc.weighta-b-c label font weight.
autoformatWhether to automatically apply labels from pandas.Series,pandas.DataFrame, andxarray.DataArrayobjects passed to plotting functions.
alphaThe opacity of the background axes patch.
axes.alphaThe opacity of the background axes patch.
formatter.timerotationFloat, indicates the default x axis tick label rotation for datetime tick labels.
formatter.zerotrimBoolean, indicates whether trailing decimal zeros are trimmed on tick labels.
formatter.limitsAlias for rc[‘axes.formatter.limits’].
formatter.use_localeAlias for rc[‘axes.formatter.use_locale’].
formatter.use_mathtextAlias for rc[‘axes.formatter.use_mathtext’].
formatter.min_exponentAlias for rc[‘axes.formatter.min_exponent’].
formatter.use_offsetAlias for rc[‘axes.formatter.useOffset’].
formatter.offset_thresholdAlias for rc[‘axes.formatter.offset_threshold’].
bordersBoolean, toggles country border lines on and off.
borders.colorLine color for country borders.
borders.linewidthLine width for country borders.
borders.zorderZ-order for country border lines.
bottomlabel.colorFont color for column labels on the bottom of the figure.
bottomlabel.sizeFont size for column labels on the bottom of the figure.
bottomlabel.weightFont weight for column labels on the bottom of the figure.
cartopy.autoextentIf False (the default), the projection extent is no longer automatically adjusted based on plotted content. See the user guidefor details.
coastBoolean, toggles coastline lines on and off.
coast.colorLine color for coast lines.
coast.linewidthLine width for coast lines.
colorbar.extendLength of rectangular or triangular “extensions” for panel colorbars. Interpted by units.
colorbar.framealphaOpacity for inset colorbar frames.
colorbar.frameonBoolean, indicates whether to draw a frame behind inset colorbars.
colorbar.gridBoolean, indicates whether to draw borders between each level of the colorbar.
colorbar.insetextendLength of rectangular or triangular “extensions” for inset colorbars. Interpted by units.
colorbar.insetlengthLength of inset colorbars. Interpted by units.
colorbar.insetpadPadding between axes edge and inset colorbars.
colorbar.insetwidthWidth of inset colorbars. Interpted by units.
colorbar.lengthLength of outer colorbars.
colorbar.locInset colorbar location. For options, see the location table.
colorbar.widthWidth of outer colorbars. Interpted by units.
cmapThe default sequential colormap.
colorThe color of axis spines, tick marks, tick labels, and labels.
cycleThe name of the color cycle used for plot elements like lines.
facecolorThe color of the background axes patch.
font.nameAlias for rc[‘font.family’]. The default is'sans-serif'.
gridBoolean, toggles major grid lines on and off.
grid.belowAlias for rc[‘axes.axisbelow’]. IfFalse, draw gridlines on top of everything. If True, underneath everything. If 'line', underneath patches only.
grid.dmslabelsBoolean, indicates whether to use degrees-minutes-seconds rather than decimals for gridline labels on CartopyAxes.
grid.padPadding in points between map boundary edge and longitude and latitude labels for GeoAxes.
grid.labelsBoolean, indicates whether to label the longitude and latitude gridlines in GeoAxes.
grid.labelsizeFont size for longitude and latitude gridline labels in GeoAxes.
grid.labelweightFont weight for longitude and latitude gridline labels in GeoAxes.
grid.labelcolorFont color for longitude and latitude gridline labels in GeoAxes.
grid.latinlineWhether to use inline labels for CartopyAxeslatitude gridlines.
grid.loninlineWhether to use inline labels for CartopyAxeslongitude gridlines.
grid.nstepsNumber of interpolation steps used to draw cartopy gridlines.
grid.ratioRatio of minor gridline width to major gridline width.
grid.rotatelabelsBoolean, indicates whether to rotate longitude and latitude CartopyAxesgridline labels.
gridminorBoolean, toggles minor grid lines on and off.
gridminor.alphaMinor gridline transparency.
gridminor.colorMinor gridline color.
gridminor.latstepLatitude gridline interval for GeoAxeswith global extent.
gridminor.linestyleMinor gridline style.
gridminor.linewidthMinor gridline width.
gridminor.lonstepInterval for GeoAxeslongitude gridlines in degrees.
image.edgefixWhether to fix the white-lines-between-filled-contoursandwhite-lines-between-pcolor-rectanglesissues.
image.levelsDefault number of levels for pcolormesh and contourf plots.
inlinefmtThe inline backend figure format or list thereof. Valid formats include 'svg', 'pdf', 'retina', 'png', and jpeg.
innerbordersBoolean, toggles internal political border lines (e.g. states and provinces) on and off.
innerborders.colorLine color for internal political borders.
innerborders.linewidthLine width for internal political borders.
innerborders.zorderZ-order for internal border lines.
lakesBoolean, toggles lake patches on and off.
lakes.colorFace color for lake patches.
lakes.zorderZ-order for lake patches.
landBoolean, toggles land patches on and off.
land.colorFace color for land patches.
land.zorderZ-order for land patches.
leftlabel.colorFont color for row labels on the left-hand side.
leftlabel.sizeFont size for row labels on the left-hand side.
leftlabel.weightFont weight for row labels on the left-hand side.
linewidthThickness of axes spines and major tick lines.
lutThe number of colors to put in the colormap lookup table.
marginThe margin of space between axes edges and objects plotted inside the axes if xlim and ylim are unset.
negcolorThe color for negative bars and shaded areas when using negpos=True. See also rc.poscolor.
poscolorThe color for positive bars and shaded areas when using negpos=True. See also rc.negcolor.
oceanBoolean, toggles ocean patches on and off.
ocean.colorFace color for ocean patches.
ocean.zorderZ-order for ocean patches.
resoResolution for GeoAxesgeographic features. Must be one of'lo', 'med', 'hi', 'x-hi', or 'xx-hi'.
rightlabel.colorFont color for row labels on the right-hand side.
rightlabel.sizeFont size for row labels on the right-hand side.
rightlabel.weightFont weight for row labels on the right-hand side.
riversBoolean, toggles river lines on and off.
rivers.colorLine color for river lines.
rivers.linewidthLine width for river lines.
rivers.zorderZ-order for river lines.
subplots.alignWhether to align axis labels during draw. See aligning labels.
subplots.axpadPadding between adjacent subplots. Interpted by units.
subplots.axwidthDefault width of each axes. Interpted by units.
subplots.padPadding around figure edge. Interpted by units.
subplots.panelpadPadding between subplots and panels, and between stacked panels. Interpted by units.
subplots.panelwidthWidth of side panels. Interpted by units.
subplots.shareThe axis sharing level, one of 0, 1, 2, or 3. See the user guidefor details.
subplots.spanBoolean, toggles spanning axis labels. See subplotsfor details.
subplots.tightBoolean, indicates whether to auto-adjust figure bounds and subplot spacings.
suptitle.colorFigure title color.
suptitle.sizeFigure title font size.
suptitle.weightFigure title font weight.
text.labelsizeMeta setting that changes the label-like sizes tick.labelsize, axes.labelsize, legend.fontsize, and grid.labelsize. Default is 'medium', i.e. the value of rc[‘font.size’](seethis list of valid font sizes).
text.titlesizeMeta setting that changes the title-like sizes abc.size, title.size, suptitle.size, and row and column label sizes like leftlabel.size. Default is 'med-large', i.e. 1.1 times rc[‘font.size’](seethis list of valid font sizes).
tick.colorMajor and minor tick color.
tick.dirMajor and minor tick direction. Must be one of 'out', 'in', or 'inout'.
tick.labelcolorAxis tick label color. Mirrors the axis label rc[‘axes.labelcolor’]setting.
tick.labelsizeAxis tick label font size. Mirrors the axis label rc[‘axes.labelsize’]setting.
tick.labelweightAxis tick label font weight. Mirrors the axis label rc[‘axes.labelweight’]setting.
tick.lenLength of major ticks in points.
tick.lenratioRatio of minor tickline length to major tickline length.
tick.minorBoolean, toggles minor ticks on and off.
tick.padPadding between ticks and tick labels in points.
tick.ratioRatio of minor tickline width to major tickline width.
title.borderBoolean, indicates whether to draw a white border around titles when rc[‘title.loc’]is inside the axes.
title.borderwidthWidth of the white border around titles.
title.colorAxes title color.
title.locTitle position. For options, see the title location table.
title.padPadding between axes and outer titles or a-b-c labels in arbitrary units. Alias for rc[‘axes.titlepad’].
title.sizeAxes title font size.
title.weightAxes title font weight.
toplabel.colorFont color for column labels on the top of the figure.
toplabel.sizeFont size for column labels on the top of the figure.
toplabel.weightFont weight for column labels on the top of the figure.
The .proplotrc file
When you install ProPlot for the first time, a .proplotrc file is generated and placed in your home directory. This is just like the matplotlibrc file, but for changing both ProPlot and matplotlib settings. The syntax is basically the same as the matplotlibrc syntax.
To change the default global settings, simply edit and uncomment the entries listed in this file. You can also change the settings for individual projects by placing a .proplotrc file in the same directory as your python scripts or jupyter notebooks, or in an arbitrary parent directory. As an example, a .proplotrc file containing the default settings is shown below.
#--------------------------------------------------------------------
# Use this file to change the default proplot and matplotlib settings
# The syntax is identical to matplotlibrc syntax. For details see:
# https://proplot.readthedocs.io/en/latest/configuration.html
# https://matplotlib.org/3.1.1/tutorials/introductory/customizing
#--------------------------------------------------------------------
# ProPlot settings
style: None
abc: False
abc.border: True
abc.borderwidth: 1.5
abc.color: black
abc.loc: l
abc.size: med-large
abc.style: a
abc.weight: bold
autoformat: True
alpha: 1.0
axes.alpha: 1.0
formatter.timerotation: 90
formatter.zerotrim: True
formatter.limits: -5, 6
formatter.use_locale: False
formatter.use_mathtext: False
formatter.min_exponent: 0
formatter.use_offset: True
formatter.offset_threshold: 4
borders: False
borders.color: black
borders.linewidth: 0.6
borders.zorder: 2
bottomlabel.color: black
bottomlabel.size: med-large
bottomlabel.weight: bold
cartopy.autoextent: False
coast: False
coast.color: black
coast.linewidth: 0.6
colorbar.extend: 1.3em
colorbar.framealpha: 0.8
colorbar.frameon: True
colorbar.grid: False
colorbar.insetextend: 1em
colorbar.insetlength: 8em
colorbar.insetpad: 0.5em
colorbar.insetwidth: 1.2em
colorbar.length: 1
colorbar.loc: right
colorbar.width: 1.5em
cmap: fire
color: black
cycle: colorblind
facecolor: white
font.name: sans-serif
grid: True
grid.below: line
grid.dmslabels: True
grid.pad: 5
grid.labels: False
grid.labelsize: medium
grid.labelweight: normal
grid.labelcolor: black
grid.latinline: False
grid.loninline: False
grid.nsteps: 250
grid.ratio: 0.5
grid.rotatelabels: False
gridminor: False
gridminor.alpha: 0.11
gridminor.color: black
gridminor.latstep: 10
gridminor.linestyle: -
gridminor.linewidth: 0.3
gridminor.lonstep: 20
image.edgefix: True
image.levels: 11
inlinefmt: retina
innerborders: False
innerborders.color: black
innerborders.linewidth: 0.6
innerborders.zorder: 2
lakes: False
lakes.color: w
lakes.zorder: 1
land: False
land.color: black
land.zorder: 1
leftlabel.color: black
leftlabel.size: med-large
leftlabel.weight: bold
linewidth: 0.6
lut: 256
margin: 0.05
negcolor: blue7
poscolor: red7
ocean: False
ocean.color: w
ocean.zorder: 1
reso: lo
rightlabel.color: black
rightlabel.size: med-large
rightlabel.weight: bold
rivers: False
rivers.color: black
rivers.linewidth: 0.6
rivers.zorder: 2
subplots.align: False
subplots.axpad: 1em
subplots.axwidth: 20em
subplots.pad: 0.5em
subplots.panelpad: 0.5em
subplots.panelwidth: 4em
subplots.share: 3
subplots.span: True
subplots.tight: True
suptitle.color: black
suptitle.size: med-large
suptitle.weight: bold
text.labelsize: medium
text.titlesize: med-large
tick.color: black
tick.dir: out
tick.labelcolor: black
tick.labelsize: medium
tick.labelweight: normal
tick.len: 4.0
tick.lenratio: 0.5
tick.minor: True
tick.pad: 2.0
tick.ratio: 0.8
title.border: True
title.borderwidth: 1.5
title.color: black
title.loc: c
title.pad: 5.0
title.size: med-large
title.weight: normal
toplabel.color: black
toplabel.size: med-large
toplabel.weight: bold
# Matplotlib settings
axes.axisbelow: line
axes.formatter.use_mathtext: False
axes.grid: True
axes.grid.which: major
axes.labelpad: 4.0
axes.labelsize: medium
axes.labelweight: normal
axes.linewidth: 0.6
axes.titlepad: 5.0
axes.titlesize: med-large
axes.titleweight: normal
axes.xmargin: 0.05
axes.ymargin: 0.05
figure.autolayout: False
figure.dpi: 100
figure.facecolor: '#f2f2f2'
figure.titlesize: med-large
figure.titleweight: bold
font.serif: TeX Gyre Schola, TeX Gyre Bonum, TeX Gyre Termes, TeX Gyre Pagella, DejaVu Serif, Bitstream Vera Serif, Computer Modern Roman, Bookman, Century Schoolbook L, Charter, ITC Bookman, New Century Schoolbook, Nimbus Roman No9 L, Palatino, Times New Roman, Times, Utopia, serif
font.sans-serif: TeX Gyre Heros, DejaVu Sans, Bitstream Vera Sans, Computer Modern Sans Serif, Arial, Avenir, Fira Math, Frutiger, Geneva, Gill Sans, Helvetica, Lucid, Lucida Grande, Myriad Pro, Noto Sans, Roboto, Source Sans Pro, Tahoma, Trebuchet MS, Ubuntu, Univers, Verdana, sans-serif
font.monospace: TeX Gyre Cursor, DejaVu Sans Mono, Bitstream Vera Sans Mono, Computer Modern Typewriter, Andale Mono, Courier New, Courier, Fixed, Nimbus Mono L, Terminal, monospace
font.cursive: TeX Gyre Chorus, Apple Chancery, Felipa, Sand, Script MT, Textile, Zapf Chancery, cursive
font.fantasy: TeX Gyre Adventor, Avant Garde, Charcoal, Chicago, Comic Sans MS, Futura, Humor Sans, Impact, Optima, Western, xkcd, fantasy
font.size: 9.0
grid.alpha: 0.11
grid.color: black
grid.linestyle: -
grid.linewidth: 0.6
hatch.color: black
hatch.linewidth: 0.6
image.cmap: fire
lines.linestyle: -
lines.linewidth: 1.5
lines.markersize: 6.0
legend.borderaxespad: 0
legend.borderpad: 0.5
legend.columnspacing: 1.5
legend.fancybox: False
legend.fontsize: medium
legend.framealpha: 0.8
legend.handletextpad: 0.5
mathtext.fontset: custom
mathtext.default: regular
patch.linewidth: 0.6
savefig.bbox: None
savefig.directory:
savefig.dpi: 1200
savefig.facecolor: white
savefig.format: pdf
savefig.transparent: True
xtick.direction: out
xtick.labelsize: medium
xtick.major.pad: 2.0
xtick.major.size: 4.0
xtick.major.width: 0.6
xtick.minor.pad: 2.0
xtick.minor.size: 2.0
xtick.minor.visible: True
xtick.minor.width: 0.48
ytick.direction: out
ytick.labelsize: medium
ytick.major.pad: 2.0
ytick.major.size: 4.0
ytick.major.width: 0.6
ytick.minor.pad: 2.0
ytick.minor.size: 2.0
ytick.minor.width: 0.48
ytick.minor.visible: True