Pandas Series: plot.barh() function

Last update on September 15 2022 12:54:44 (UTC/GMT +8 hours)

Series-plot.barh() function

The plot.barh() function is used to create a horizontal bar plot.
A horizontal bar plot is a plot that presents quantitative data with rectangular bars with lengths proportional to the values that they represent. A bar plot shows comparisons among discrete categories. One axis of the plot shows the specific categories being compared, and the other axis represents a measured value.

Syntax:

Series.plot.barh(self, x=None, y=None, **kwargs)

Parameters:

Name	Description	Type/Default Value	Required / Optional
x	Column to be used for categories.	label or position, default DataFrame.index	Required
y	Columns to be plotted from the DataFrame.	label or position, default All numeric columns in dataframe	Required
**kwds	Keyword arguments to pass on to DataFrame.plot().

Returns: matplotlib.axes.Axes or numpy.ndarray of them.

Example - Basic example:

Python-Pandas Code:

import numpy as np
import pandas as pd
df = pd.DataFrame({'lab':['P', 'Q', 'R'], 'val':[6, 26, 16]})
ax = df.plot.barh(x='lab', y='val')

Output:

Example - Plot a whole DataFrame to a horizontal bar plot:

Python-Pandas Code:

import numpy as np
import pandas as pd
speed = [0.1, 17.5, 30, 38, 42, 59, 77]
lifespan = [2, 6, 60, 1.5, 21, 10, 24]
index = ['elephant', 'pig', 'deer',
         'goat', 'cat', 'fox', 'horse']
df = pd.DataFrame({'speed': speed,
                   'lifespan': lifespan}, index=index)
ax = df.plot.barh()

Output:

Example - Plot a column of the DataFrame to a horizontal bar plot:

Python-Pandas Code:

import numpy as np
import pandas as pd
speed = [0.1, 17.5, 30, 38, 42, 59, 77]
lifespan = [2, 6, 60, 1.5, 21, 10, 24]
index = ['elephant', 'pig', 'deer',
         'goat', 'cat', 'fox', 'horse']
df = pd.DataFrame({'speed': speed,
                   'lifespan': lifespan}, index=index)
ax = df.plot.barh(y='speed')

Output:

Example - Plot DataFrame versus the desired column:

Python-Pandas Code:

import numpy as np
import pandas as pd
speed = [0.1, 17.5, 30, 38, 42, 59, 77]
lifespan = [2, 6, 60, 1.5, 21, 10, 24]
index = ['elephant', 'pig', 'deer',
         'goat', 'cat', 'fox', 'horse']
df = pd.DataFrame({'speed': speed,
                   'lifespan': lifespan}, index=index)
ax = df.plot.barh(x='lifespan')

Output:

Previous: Series-plot.bar() function
Next: Series-plot.box() function