Matplotlib: draw a selection area in the shape of a rectangle with the mouse

Question

I want to be able to draw a selection area on a matplotlib plot with a mouse event. I didn\'t find information on how to do it with python.

In the end, I want to be

Answer 1

Here's a small example that shows how to use the mouse to draw a rectangle on a matplotlib plot.

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from matplotlib.patches import Rectangle

class Annotate(object):
    def __init__(self):
        self.ax = plt.gca()
        self.rect = Rectangle((0,0), 1, 1)
        self.x0 = None
        self.y0 = None
        self.x1 = None
        self.y1 = None
        self.ax.add_patch(self.rect)
        self.ax.figure.canvas.mpl_connect('button_press_event', self.on_press)
        self.ax.figure.canvas.mpl_connect('button_release_event', self.on_release)

    def on_press(self, event):
        print 'press'
        self.x0 = event.xdata
        self.y0 = event.ydata

    def on_release(self, event):
        print 'release'
        self.x1 = event.xdata
        self.y1 = event.ydata
        self.rect.set_width(self.x1 - self.x0)
        self.rect.set_height(self.y1 - self.y0)
        self.rect.set_xy((self.x0, self.y0))
        self.ax.figure.canvas.draw()

a = Annotate()
plt.show()

Answer 2

Matplotlib provides its own RectangleSelector. There is an example on the matplotlib page, which you may adapt to your needs.

A simplified version would look something like this:

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np
from matplotlib.widgets  import RectangleSelector

xdata = np.linspace(0,9*np.pi, num=301)
ydata = np.sin(xdata)

fig, ax = plt.subplots()
line, = ax.plot(xdata, ydata)


def line_select_callback(eclick, erelease):
    x1, y1 = eclick.xdata, eclick.ydata
    x2, y2 = erelease.xdata, erelease.ydata

    rect = plt.Rectangle( (min(x1,x2),min(y1,y2)), np.abs(x1-x2), np.abs(y1-y2) )
    ax.add_patch(rect)


rs = RectangleSelector(ax, line_select_callback,
                       drawtype='box', useblit=False, button=[1], 
                       minspanx=5, minspany=5, spancoords='pixels', 
                       interactive=True)

plt.show()