making matplotlib scatter plots from dataframes in Python's pandas

Question

What is the best way to make a series of scatter plots using matplotlib from a pandas dataframe in Python?

For example, if I have a datafr

Answer 1

Try passing columns of the DataFrame directly to matplotlib, as in the examples below, instead of extracting them as numpy arrays.

df = pd.DataFrame(np.random.randn(10,2), columns=['col1','col2'])
df['col3'] = np.arange(len(df))**2 * 100 + 100

In [5]: df
Out[5]: 
       col1      col2  col3
0 -1.000075 -0.759910   100
1  0.510382  0.972615   200
2  1.872067 -0.731010   500
3  0.131612  1.075142  1000
4  1.497820  0.237024  1700

Vary scatter point size based on another column

plt.scatter(df.col1, df.col2, s=df.col3)
# OR (with pandas 0.13 and up)
df.plot(kind='scatter', x='col1', y='col2', s=df.col3)

Vary scatter point color based on another column

colors = np.where(df.col3 > 300, 'r', 'k')
plt.scatter(df.col1, df.col2, s=120, c=colors)
# OR (with pandas 0.13 and up)
df.plot(kind='scatter', x='col1', y='col2', s=120, c=colors)

Scatter plot with legend

However, the easiest way I've found to create a scatter plot with legend is to call plt.scatter once for each point type.

cond = df.col3 > 300
subset_a = df[cond].dropna()
subset_b = df[~cond].dropna()
plt.scatter(subset_a.col1, subset_a.col2, s=120, c='b', label='col3 > 300')
plt.scatter(subset_b.col1, subset_b.col2, s=60, c='r', label='col3 <= 300') 
plt.legend()

Update

From what I can tell, matplotlib simply skips points with NA x/y coordinates or NA style settings (e.g., color/size). To find points skipped due to NA, try the isnull method: df[df.col3.isnull()]

To split a list of points into many types, take a look at numpy select, which is a vectorized if-then-else implementation and accepts an optional default value. For example:

df['subset'] = np.select([df.col3 < 150, df.col3 < 400, df.col3 < 600],
                         [0, 1, 2], -1)
for color, label in zip('bgrm', [0, 1, 2, -1]):
    subset = df[df.subset == label]
    plt.scatter(subset.col1, subset.col2, s=120, c=color, label=str(label))
plt.legend()

Answer 2

There is little to be added to Garrett's great answer, but pandas also has a scatter method. Using that, it's as easy as

df = pd.DataFrame(np.random.randn(10,2), columns=['col1','col2'])
df['col3'] = np.arange(len(df))**2 * 100 + 100
df.plot.scatter('col1', 'col2', df['col3'])

Answer 3

I will recommend to use an alternative method using seaborn which more powerful tool for data plotting. You can use seaborn scatterplot and define colum 3 as hue and size.

Working code:

import pandas as pd
import seaborn as sns
import numpy as np

#creating sample data 
sample_data={'col_name_1':np.random.rand(20),
      'col_name_2': np.random.rand(20),'col_name_3': np.arange(20)*100}
df= pd.DataFrame(sample_data)
sns.scatterplot(x="col_name_1", y="col_name_2", data=df, hue="col_name_3",size="col_name_3")