.bar()

Published Mar 11, 2023Updated May 20, 2023
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The .bar() function returns a chart/graph that represents categorical data using vertical bars with heights proportional to the values that they represent. Bars can be plotted as stacked or grouped.

Syntax

plt.bar(x, height, width, bottom, align, kwargs)

The parameters to the function are:

  • x: Float or array-like values (may be an index and is not required to be scalar).
  • height: Float or array-like values designating the heights of the bars.
  • width: Float or array-like values designating the widths of the bars (the default is 0.8).
  • bottom: Float or array-like values to designate the y coordinates of the bars (default: 0).
  • align: Keyword (‘center’ or ‘edge’) designating the bar alignment (default: ‘center’).
  • kwargs: Keywords (properties of Matplotlib rectangle) can be passed to further customize elements of the plot (e.g. fill, color, hatch).

Example

Goal: Return the value of “X”, “Y” and “Z” in a graph representation. In this example, the x and y arrays will be allocated to the x and height arguments respectively. The last argument specifies the color of the bars.

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np
x = np.array(["X", "Y", "Z"])
y = np.array([10, 25, 15])
plt.bar(x, y, color = "green")
plt.show()

Output:

Output of matplotlib.pyplot.bar() method example

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