Flip a plot in matplotlib

Question

I am creating a plot with matplotlib

import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

x = np.arange(0, 5, 0.1);
y = np.sin(x)
plt.plot(x, y)

Can I flip the plot, making the y-axis inverted and all positive values negative and vice versa?

I know I can multiply by -1 and use invert_yaxis but I wonder if there is a function for flipping it without changing the values.

relevant? http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1760614/turning-y-axis-upside-down-in-matlab — Aziz, Apr 27 '15 at 22:16
It sounds like `plt.plot(x, -y)` would do exactly what you're looking for. What don't you like about *"changing the values"*? — ali_m, Apr 28 '15 at 00:31
Somehow I find your question hard to understand. On one hand you want to change the values (*making the y-axis inverted and all positive values negative and vice versa?*) and on the other hand you explicitly don't want to change the values (*I wonder if there is a function for flipping it without changing the values*). Could you clarify what the question is? — hitzg, Apr 28 '15 at 08:35

score 18 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 27 '15 at 22:17

18

Try the following function:

plt.gca().invert_yaxis()

answered Apr 27 '15 at 22:17

A.J. Uppal

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score 2 · Answer 2 · edited May 13 '21 at 18:18

Inverting y limits from (-1.1,1.1) to (1.1,-1.1) with plt.ylim will do the trick...

x = np.linspace(0, 2*np.pi, 63)
y = np.sin(x)
plt.plot(x, y)  
plt.ylim(1.1,-1.1)

Note that (1.1,-1.1) are just 10% above and below y.max() and y.min() values, preventing the y line from touching the graph box. Note also that x =np.arange(0, 5, .1) does not cover a complete sinusoidal period, 2 pi radians... x = np.linspace(0, 2*np.pi, 63) solves this little issue with same len(x) provided by np.arange(0, 5, .1).

Flip a plot in matplotlib

2 Answers2

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