.pie()

The .pie() method in the Matplotlib library is used to draw a pie chart, a common format that shows the percentage of individual elements with respect to the data as a whole.

Syntax

matplotlib.pyplot.pie(x, explode, labels, colors, autopct, pctdistance, shadow, labeldistance, startangle, radius, counterclock, wedgeprops, textprops, center, frame, rotatelabels, normalize, hatch, data)

The x parameter, the data to be mapped, is required and represents a 1D array-like object. Other parameters are optional and modify plot features like wedge colors and labels.

.pie() takes the following arguments:

• x: 1D array-like object that specifies the wedge sizes.
• explode: Array-like object which specifies the fraction of the radius with which to offset each wedge.
• labels: A list of strings to provide labels for each wedge.
• colors: Array-like sequence of colors that the pie chart will cycle through.
• autopct: A string or function used to generate labels inside the wedges showing their numeric value.
• pctdistance: The relative distance along the radius to draw the text generated by autopct.
• shadow: Boolean value indicates if a shadow is drawn beneath the pie.
• labeldistance: The relative distance along the radius to draw the labels.
• startangle: An angle, counterclockwise from the x-axis, at which to rotate the start of the pie.
• radius: The radius of the pie.
• counterclock: Boolean to specify clockwise or counterclockwise direction for fractions.
• wedgeprops: Dict of arguments to pass to each patches.Wedge.
• textprops: Dict of arguments passed to the text objects.
• center: (float, float), the center coordinates of the chart.
• frame: Bool, determines if Axes frame is plotted with the chart.
• rotatelabels: If True, rotates each label to the angle of the corresponding slice.
• normalize: Bool, when True, always make a full pie by normalizing x, otherwise results in a partial pie.
• hatch: Str or list, hatching pattern applied to all pie wedges or sequence of patterns that the chart will cycle through.

Examples

Examples below demonstrate the use of .pie() to plot values and show the functionality of some arguments.

A simple pie chart:

# Import libraries
from matplotlib import pyplot as plt

# Creating dataset
pizza = ['CHEESE','PEPPERONI','VEGGIE','MEAT','BBQ CHICKEN','HAWAIIAN']
data = [23,  17,  35,  29,  12,  41]

# Creating plot
plt.pie(data, labels = pizza)

# show plot
plt.show()

Output:

Customizing the pie chart:

# Import libraries
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

# Plot data
pizza = ['CHEESE','PEPPERONI','VEGGIE','MEAT','BBQ CHICKEN','HAWAIIAN']
popularity = [22,  17,  9,  8,  7,  6]

#colors = ['red', 'green', 'yellow', 'blue', 'purple', 'brown']
colors = ['#FF6188',  '#A9DC76',  '#FFD866',  '#78DCE8',  '#AB9DF2',  '#8c564b']

# explode 1st slice
explode = (0.1,  0,  0,  0,  0,  0)

# Plot
plt.pie(popularity, explode=explode, labels=pizza, colors=colors, autopct='%1.1f%%', shadow=True, startangle=140)
plt.show()

Output: