[python] Moving x-axis to the top of a plot in matplotlib

Based on this question about heatmaps in matplotlib, I wanted to move the x-axis titles to the top of the plot.

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np
column_labels = list('ABCD')
row_labels = list('WXYZ')
data = np.random.rand(4,4)
fig, ax = plt.subplots()
heatmap = ax.pcolor(data, cmap=plt.cm.Blues)

# put the major ticks at the middle of each cell
ax.set_xticks(np.arange(data.shape[0])+0.5, minor=False)
ax.set_yticks(np.arange(data.shape[1])+0.5, minor=False)

# want a more natural, table-like display
ax.invert_yaxis()
ax.xaxis.set_label_position('top') # <-- This doesn't work!

ax.set_xticklabels(row_labels, minor=False)
ax.set_yticklabels(column_labels, minor=False)
plt.show()

However, calling matplotlib's set_label_position (as notated above) doesn't seem to have the desired effect. Here's my output:

enter image description here

What am I doing wrong?

This question is related to python matplotlib plot data-visualization

The answer is


tick_params is very useful for setting tick properties. Labels can be moved to the top with:

    ax.tick_params(labelbottom=False,labeltop=True)

You want set_ticks_position rather than set_label_position:

ax.xaxis.set_ticks_position('top') # the rest is the same

This gives me:

enter image description here


You've got to do some extra massaging if you want the ticks (not labels) to show up on the top and bottom (not just the top). The only way I could do this is with a minor change to unutbu's code:

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np
column_labels = list('ABCD')
row_labels = list('WXYZ')
data = np.random.rand(4, 4)
fig, ax = plt.subplots()
heatmap = ax.pcolor(data, cmap=plt.cm.Blues)

# put the major ticks at the middle of each cell
ax.set_xticks(np.arange(data.shape[1]) + 0.5, minor=False)
ax.set_yticks(np.arange(data.shape[0]) + 0.5, minor=False)

# want a more natural, table-like display
ax.invert_yaxis()
ax.xaxis.tick_top()
ax.xaxis.set_ticks_position('both') # THIS IS THE ONLY CHANGE

ax.set_xticklabels(column_labels, minor=False)
ax.set_yticklabels(row_labels, minor=False)
plt.show()

Output:

enter image description here


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