matplotlib and pandas - how do I turn Q1 2015, Q2 2015, etc. into values on the X axis?

Question

I'm trying to graph different quarters' worth of economic data. I have a pandas dataframe and I imported the csv like:

unemployment_data = pd.read_csv("unemploymentbystate.csv")
unemployment_data.set_index('Date')
unemployment_data.plot()

But how do I get the 21 ticks to show on the X axis as Q1 2015 through q1 2020 iteratively? (I.e. q2 2015, q3 2015...up to q1 2020)?

right now it only shows random intervals of 0.0, 2.5, 5.0, 7.5 up to 20 on the x axis.

Thank you!

You can set the x-Ticklabels using https://matplotlib.org/3.1.1/api/_as_gen/matplotlib.axes.Axes.set_xticklabels.html — MalteHerrmann, Apr 24 '20 at 20:03
Thanks for the reply! Can you kindly guide me to use the following line to "translate" 0.0 and 2.5 (and so on...) into the q1 2015, q2 2015, etc.? Axes.set_xticklabels(self, labels, fontdict=None, minor=False, **kwargs) — dbs5, Apr 24 '20 at 20:08
You will find what you need here: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/21910986/why-set-xticks-doesnt-set-the-labels-of-ticks — MalteHerrmann, Apr 24 '20 at 20:13

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 24 '20 at 20:10

3

set_index() by default returns a new dataframe, not modify your original. You can do, without set_index:

unemployment_data.plot(x='Date')

Or,

unemployment_data = unemployment_data.set_index('Date')
unemployment_data.plot()

answered Apr 24 '20 at 20:10

Quang Hoang

1 Answers1