.scatter()

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Published Jun 19, 2024
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The .scatter() method in the Plotly library creates a scatter plot to visualize the relationship between variables using markers on a Cartesian plane, with data points plotted based on their values on the x and y axes.

Syntax

plotly.express.scatter(data_frame=None, x=None, y=None, color=None, symbol=None, size=None, ...)
  • data_frame: The Pandas DataFrame holding the data to visualize.
  • x: The column name in data_frame, Series or array_like object for x-axis data.
  • y: The column name in data_frame, Series or array_like object for y-axis data.
  • color: The column name in data_frame, Series or array_like object specifying marker colors.
  • symbol: The column name in data_frame, Series or array_like object assigning marker symbols.
  • size: The column name in data_frame, Series or array_like object assgining marker sizes.

Both the x and y parameters are required and represent either a string, integer, Series, or array-like object. Other parameters are optional and can modify plot features such as marker sizes and/or colors. If data_frame is missing, a DataFrame is constructed using the other arguments.

Note: The ellipsis in the syntax (…) indicates that there can be additional optional parameters beyond those listed here to customize the scatter plot.

Example

The below example demonstrates the use of the .scatter() method:

# Defining 'x' and 'y' as array_like objects
import plotly.express as px
x = [1, 3, 5, 7, 9]
y = [4, 6, 5, 8, 2]
# Creating a scatter plot
fig = px.scatter(x = x, y = y)
# Displaying the plot
fig.show()

The output for the above code is as follows:

The output for the above example

Here is another example that customizes the previously created scatter plot by adding colors and symbols for each data point:

import plotly.express as px
# Adding 'color' and 'symbol' columns to the already existing 'x' and 'y' columns
x = [1, 3, 5, 7, 9]
y = [4, 6, 5, 8, 2]
color = ['red', 'green', 'blue', 'purple', 'orange']
symbol = ['circle', 'square', 'diamond', 'star', 'triangle-up']
# Creating a scatter plot
fig = px.scatter(x=x, y=y, color=color, symbol=symbol, title = "Scatter Plot with Colors and Symbols")
# Displaying the plot
fig.show()

The above code produces the following output:

The output for the above example

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