.. only:: html

    .. note::
        :class: sphx-glr-download-link-note

        Click :ref:`here <sphx_glr_download_gallery_ticks_and_spines_major_minor_demo.py>`     to download the full example code
    .. rst-class:: sphx-glr-example-title

    .. _sphx_glr_gallery_ticks_and_spines_major_minor_demo.py:


=====================
Major and minor ticks
=====================

Demonstrate how to use major and minor tickers.

The two relevant classes are `.Locator`\s and `.Formatter`\s.  Locators
determine where the ticks are, and formatters control the formatting of tick
labels.

Minor ticks are off by default (using `.NullLocator` and `.NullFormatter`).
Minor ticks can be turned on without labels by setting the minor locator.
Minor tick labels can be turned on by setting the minor formatter.

`.MultipleLocator` places ticks on multiples of some base.
`.StrMethodFormatter` uses a format string (e.g., ``'{x:d}'`` or ``'{x:1.2f}'``
or ``'{x:1.1f} cm'``) to format the tick labels (the variable in the format
string must be ``'x'``).  For a `.StrMethodFormatter`, the string can be passed
directly to `.Axis.set_major_formatter` or
`.Axis.set_minor_formatter`.  An appropriate `.StrMethodFormatter` will
be created and used automatically.

`.pyplot.grid` changes the grid settings of the major ticks of the y and y axis
together.  If you want to control the grid of the minor ticks for a given axis,
use for example ::

  ax.xaxis.grid(True, which='minor')

Note that a given locator or formatter instance can only be used on a single
axis (because the locator stores references to the axis data and view limits).


.. code-block:: default


    import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
    import numpy as np
    from matplotlib.ticker import (MultipleLocator, AutoMinorLocator)


    t = np.arange(0.0, 100.0, 0.1)
    s = np.sin(0.1 * np.pi * t) * np.exp(-t * 0.01)

    fig, ax = plt.subplots()
    ax.plot(t, s)

    # Make a plot with major ticks that are multiples of 20 and minor ticks that
    # are multiples of 5.  Label major ticks with '.0f' formatting but don't label
    # minor ticks.  The string is used directly, the `StrMethodFormatter` is
    # created automatically.
    ax.xaxis.set_major_locator(MultipleLocator(20))
    ax.xaxis.set_major_formatter('{x:.0f}')

    # For the minor ticks, use no labels; default NullFormatter.
    ax.xaxis.set_minor_locator(MultipleLocator(5))

    plt.show()




.. image:: /gallery/ticks_and_spines/images/sphx_glr_major_minor_demo_001.png
    :alt: major minor demo
    :class: sphx-glr-single-img





Automatic tick selection for major and minor ticks.

Use interactive pan and zoom to see how the tick intervals change. There will
be either 4 or 5 minor tick intervals per major interval, depending on the
major interval.

One can supply an argument to `.AutoMinorLocator` to specify a fixed number
of minor intervals per major interval, e.g. ``AutoMinorLocator(2)`` would
lead to a single minor tick between major ticks.


.. code-block:: default


    t = np.arange(0.0, 100.0, 0.01)
    s = np.sin(2 * np.pi * t) * np.exp(-t * 0.01)

    fig, ax = plt.subplots()
    ax.plot(t, s)

    ax.xaxis.set_minor_locator(AutoMinorLocator())

    ax.tick_params(which='both', width=2)
    ax.tick_params(which='major', length=7)
    ax.tick_params(which='minor', length=4, color='r')

    plt.show()





.. image:: /gallery/ticks_and_spines/images/sphx_glr_major_minor_demo_002.png
    :alt: major minor demo
    :class: sphx-glr-single-img





------------

References
""""""""""

The use of the following functions, methods, classes and modules is shown
in this example:


.. code-block:: default


    import matplotlib
    matplotlib.pyplot.subplots
    matplotlib.axis.Axis.set_major_formatter
    matplotlib.axis.Axis.set_major_locator
    matplotlib.axis.Axis.set_minor_locator
    matplotlib.ticker.AutoMinorLocator
    matplotlib.ticker.MultipleLocator
    matplotlib.ticker.StrMethodFormatter








.. rst-class:: sphx-glr-timing

   **Total running time of the script:** ( 0 minutes  1.447 seconds)


.. _sphx_glr_download_gallery_ticks_and_spines_major_minor_demo.py:


.. only :: html

 .. container:: sphx-glr-footer
    :class: sphx-glr-footer-example



  .. container:: sphx-glr-download sphx-glr-download-python

     :download:`Download Python source code: major_minor_demo.py <major_minor_demo.py>`



  .. container:: sphx-glr-download sphx-glr-download-jupyter

     :download:`Download Jupyter notebook: major_minor_demo.ipynb <major_minor_demo.ipynb>`


.. only:: html

 .. rst-class:: sphx-glr-signature

    Keywords: matplotlib code example, codex, python plot, pyplot
    `Gallery generated by Sphinx-Gallery
    <https://sphinx-gallery.readthedocs.io>`_