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This webpage has led me to believe that I can pass an empty string to matplotlib.yticks in order to turn off the y-ticks of a figure.

However, when I attempt to do this, I get the following error:

In [1]: from pylab import *

In [2]: figure()
Out[2]: <matplotlib.figure.Figure at 0xb69d43cc>

In [3]: yticks('')
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TypeError                                 Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-3-7ead106262fa> in <module>()
----> 1 yticks('')

/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/pyplot.pyc in yticks(*args, **kwargs)
   1631     elif len(args)==1:
   1632         locs = ax.set_yticks(args[0])
-> 1633         labels = ax.get_yticklabels()
   1634     elif len(args)==2:
   1635         locs = ax.set_yticks(args[0])

/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/axes/_base.pyc in get_yticklabels(self, minor, which)
   2912         return cbook.silent_list('Text yticklabel',
   2913                                   self.yaxis.get_ticklabels(minor=minor,
-> 2914                                                             which=which))
   2915 
   2916     @docstring.dedent_interpd

/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/axis.pyc in get_ticklabels(self, minor, which)
   1212         if minor:
   1213             return self.get_minorticklabels()
-> 1214         return self.get_majorticklabels()
   1215 
   1216     def get_majorticklines(self):

/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/axis.pyc in get_majorticklabels(self)
   1166     def get_majorticklabels(self):
   1167         'Return a list of Text instances for the major ticklabels'
-> 1168         ticks = self.get_major_ticks()
   1169         labels1 = [tick.label1 for tick in ticks if tick.label1On]
   1170         labels2 = [tick.label2 for tick in ticks if tick.label2On]

/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/matplotlib/axis.pyc in get_major_ticks(self, numticks)
   1295         'get the tick instances; grow as necessary'
   1296         if numticks is None:
-> 1297             numticks = len(self.get_major_locator()())
   1298         if len(self.majorTicks) < numticks:
   1299             # update the new tick label properties from the old

TypeError: len() of unsized object

What's the deal? If this method for turning off the y-ticks is incorrect, what is the correct way to do it?

abcd
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2 Answers2

2

The yticks function from matplotlib expects a list as an argument rather than a string. Thus, to turn off the y-ticks,

In [1]: import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
In [2]: plt.figure()
Out[2]: <matplotlib.figure.Figure at 0x10ef23710>

In [3]: plt.yticks([])
Out[3]: ([], <a list of 0 Text yticklabel objects>)

For more control over ticks in matplotlib, consider using tick_params as pointed out in this answer.

Community
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Will Barnes
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1

The accepted solution for this question should achieve what you want, and give you more control over what is displayed.

Remove xticks in a matplot lib plot?

For example, for turning off all ticks on the y axis:

>>> from pylab import *
>>> figure()
>>> plot(arange(10))
>>> tick_params(axis='y', which='both', left='off', right='off', labelleft='off')
>>> show()
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user1373945
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  • cool, thanks. is passing an empty string something that used to be supported but isn't anymore? – abcd Sep 28 '15 at 03:13