Rotate axis text in python matplotlib

Question

I can\'t figure out how to rotate the text on the X Axis. Its a time stamp, so as the number of samples increase, they get closer and closer until they overlap. I\'d like

Answer 1

I came up with a similar example. Again, the rotation keyword is.. well, it's key.

from pylab import *
fig = figure()
ax = fig.add_subplot(111)
ax.bar( [0,1,2], [1,3,5] )
ax.set_xticks( [ 0.5, 1.5, 2.5 ] )
ax.set_xticklabels( ['tom','dick','harry'], rotation=45 ) ;

Answer 2

Appart from

plt.xticks(rotation=90)

this is also possible:

plt.xticks(rotation='vertical')

Answer 3

This works for me:

plt.xticks(rotation=90)

Answer 4

If using plt:

plt.xticks(rotation=90)

In case of using pandas or seaborn to plot, assuming ax as axes for the plot:

ax.set_xticklabels(ax.get_xticklabels(), rotation=90)

Another way of doing the above:

for tick in ax.get_xticklabels():
    tick.set_rotation(45)

Answer 5

To rotate the x-axis label to 90 degrees

for tick in ax.get_xticklabels():
    tick.set_rotation(45)

Answer 6

Easy way

As described here, there is an existing method in the matplotlib.pyplot figure class that automatically rotates dates appropriately for you figure.

You can call it after you plot your data (i.e.ax.plot(dates,ydata) :

fig.autofmt_xdate()

If you need to format the labels further, checkout the above link.

Non-datetime objects

As per languitar's comment, the method I suggested for non-datetime xticks would not update correctly when zooming, etc. If it's not a datetime object used as your x-axis data, you should follow Tommy's answer:

for tick in ax.get_xticklabels():
    tick.set_rotation(45)