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<section id="write-documentation">
<span id="documenting-matplotlib"></span><h1>Write documentation<a class="headerlink" href="#write-documentation" title="Link to this heading">#</a></h1>
<section id="getting-started">
<h2>Getting started<a class="headerlink" href="#getting-started" title="Link to this heading">#</a></h2>
<section id="general-file-structure">
<h3>General file structure<a class="headerlink" href="#general-file-structure" title="Link to this heading">#</a></h3>
<p>All documentation is built from the <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">doc/</span></code>. The <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">doc/</span></code>
directory contains configuration files for Sphinx and reStructuredText
(<a class="reference external" href="https://docutils.sourceforge.io/rst.html">ReST</a>; <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">.rst</span></code>) files that are rendered to documentation pages.</p>
<p>Documentation is created in three ways. First, API documentation
(<code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">doc/api</span></code>) is created by <a class="reference external" href="http://www.sphinx-doc.org">Sphinx</a> from
the docstrings of the classes in the Matplotlib library. Except for
<code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">doc/api/api_changes/</span></code>, <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">.rst</span></code> files in <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">doc/api</span></code> are created
when the documentation is built. See <a class="reference internal" href="#writing-docstrings"><span class="std std-ref">Write docstrings</span></a> below.</p>
<p>Second, our example pages, tutorials, and some of the narrative documentation
are created by <a class="reference external" href="https://sphinx-gallery.readthedocs.io/en/latest/">Sphinx Gallery</a>. Sphinx Gallery converts example Python files
to <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">*.rst</span></code> files with the result of Matplotlib plot calls as embedded images.
See <a class="reference internal" href="#writing-examples-and-tutorials"><span class="std std-ref">Write examples and tutorials</span></a> below.</p>
<p>Third, Matplotlib has narrative docs written in <a class="reference external" href="https://docutils.sourceforge.io/rst.html">ReST</a> in subdirectories of
<code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">doc/users/</span></code>. If you would like to add new documentation that is suited
to an <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">.rst</span></code> file rather than a gallery or tutorial example, choose an
appropriate subdirectory to put it in, and add the file to the table of
contents of <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">index.rst</span></code> of the subdirectory. See
<a class="reference internal" href="#writing-rest-pages"><span class="std std-ref">Write ReST pages</span></a> below.</p>
<div class="admonition note">
<p class="admonition-title">Note</p>
<p>Don't directly edit the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">.rst</span></code> files in <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">doc/plot_types</span></code>,
<code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">doc/gallery</span></code>, <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">doc/tutorials</span></code>, and <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">doc/api</span></code>
(excepting <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">doc/api/api_changes/</span></code>). <a class="reference external" href="http://www.sphinx-doc.org">Sphinx</a> regenerates
files in these directories when building documentation.</p>
</div>
</section>
<section id="set-up-the-build">
<h3>Set up the build<a class="headerlink" href="#set-up-the-build" title="Link to this heading">#</a></h3>
<p>The documentation for Matplotlib is generated from reStructuredText (<a class="reference external" href="https://docutils.sourceforge.io/rst.html">ReST</a>)
using the <a class="reference external" href="http://www.sphinx-doc.org">Sphinx</a> documentation generation tool.</p>
<p>To build the documentation you will need to
<a class="reference internal" href="development_setup.html#installing-for-devs"><span class="std std-ref">set up Matplotlib for development</span></a>. Note in
particular the <a class="reference internal" href="../users/installing/dependencies.html#doc-dependencies"><span class="std std-ref">additional dependencies</span></a> required to
build the documentation.</p>
</section>
<section id="build-the-docs">
<h3>Build the docs<a class="headerlink" href="#build-the-docs" title="Link to this heading">#</a></h3>
<p>The documentation sources are found in the <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">doc/</span></code> directory.
The configuration file for Sphinx is <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">doc/conf.py</span></code>. It controls which
directories Sphinx parses, how the docs are built, and how the extensions are
used. To build the documentation in html format, cd into <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">doc/</span></code> and run:</p>
<div class="highlight-sh notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>make<span class="w"> </span>html
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>Other useful invocations include</p>
<div class="highlight-sh notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="c1"># Build the html documentation, but skip generation of the gallery images to</span>
<span class="c1"># save time.</span>
make<span class="w"> </span>html-noplot
<span class="c1"># Build the html documentation, but skip specific subdirectories. If a gallery</span>
<span class="c1"># directory is skipped, the gallery images are not generated. The first</span>
<span class="c1"># time this is run, it creates ``.mpl_skip_subdirs.yaml`` which can be edited</span>
<span class="c1"># to add or remove subdirectories</span>
make<span class="w"> </span>html-skip-subdirs
<span class="c1"># Delete built files. May help if you get errors about missing paths or</span>
<span class="c1"># broken links.</span>
make<span class="w"> </span>clean
<span class="c1"># Build pdf docs.</span>
make<span class="w"> </span>latexpdf
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>The <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">SPHINXOPTS</span></code> variable is set to <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">-W</span> <span class="pre">--keep-going</span></code> by default to build
the complete docs but exit with exit status 1 if there are warnings. To unset
it, use</p>
<div class="highlight-sh notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>make<span class="w"> </span><span class="nv">SPHINXOPTS</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="w"> </span>html
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>You can use the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">O</span></code> variable to set additional options:</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">make</span> <span class="pre">O=-j4</span> <span class="pre">html</span></code> runs a parallel build with 4 processes.</p></li>
<li><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">make</span> <span class="pre">O=-Dplot_formats=png:100</span> <span class="pre">html</span></code> saves figures in low resolution.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Multiple options can be combined, e.g. <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">make</span> <span class="pre">O='-j4</span> <span class="pre">-Dplot_formats=png:100'</span>
<span class="pre">html</span></code>.</p>
<p>On Windows, set the options as environment variables, e.g.:</p>
<div class="highlight-bat notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="k">set</span> <span class="nv">SPHINXOPTS</span><span class="p">=</span> <span class="p">&</span> <span class="k">set</span> <span class="nv">O</span><span class="p">=</span>-j4 -Dplot_formats=png:100 <span class="p">&</span> make html
</pre></div>
</div>
</section>
<section id="show-locally-built-docs">
<h3>Show locally built docs<a class="headerlink" href="#show-locally-built-docs" title="Link to this heading">#</a></h3>
<p>The built docs are available in the folder <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">build/html</span></code>. A shortcut
for opening them in your default browser is:</p>
<div class="highlight-sh notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>make<span class="w"> </span>show
</pre></div>
</div>
</section>
</section>
<section id="write-rest-pages">
<span id="writing-rest-pages"></span><h2>Write ReST pages<a class="headerlink" href="#write-rest-pages" title="Link to this heading">#</a></h2>
<p>Most documentation is either in the docstrings of individual
classes and methods, in explicit <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">.rst</span></code> files, or in examples and tutorials.
All of these use the <a class="reference external" href="https://docutils.sourceforge.io/rst.html">ReST</a> syntax and are processed by <a class="reference external" href="http://www.sphinx-doc.org">Sphinx</a>.</p>
<p>The <a class="reference external" href="https://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/master/usage/restructuredtext/basics.html">Sphinx reStructuredText Primer</a> is
a good introduction into using ReST. More complete information is available in
the <a class="reference external" href="https://docutils.sourceforge.io/rst.html#reference-documentation">reStructuredText reference documentation</a>.</p>
<p>This section contains additional information and conventions how ReST is used
in the Matplotlib documentation.</p>
<section id="formatting-and-style-conventions">
<h3>Formatting and style conventions<a class="headerlink" href="#formatting-and-style-conventions" title="Link to this heading">#</a></h3>
<p>It is useful to strive for consistency in the Matplotlib documentation. Here
are some formatting and style conventions that are used.</p>
<section id="section-formatting">
<h4>Section formatting<a class="headerlink" href="#section-formatting" title="Link to this heading">#</a></h4>
<p>Use <a class="reference external" href="https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/capitalization/sentence-case">sentence case</a>
<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Upper</span> <span class="pre">lower</span></code> for section titles, e.g., <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Possible</span> <span class="pre">hangups</span></code> rather than
<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Possible</span> <span class="pre">Hangups</span></code>.</p>
<p>We aim to follow the recommendations from the
<a class="reference external" href="https://devguide.python.org/documenting/#sections">Python documentation</a>
and the <a class="reference external" href="https://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/master/usage/restructuredtext/basics.html#sections">Sphinx reStructuredText documentation</a>
for section markup characters, i.e.:</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">#</span></code> with overline, for parts. This is reserved for the main title in
<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">index.rst</span></code>. All other pages should start with "chapter" or lower.</p></li>
<li><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">*</span></code> with overline, for chapters</p></li>
<li><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">=</span></code>, for sections</p></li>
<li><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">-</span></code>, for subsections</p></li>
<li><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">^</span></code>, for subsubsections</p></li>
<li><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">"</span></code>, for paragraphs</p></li>
</ul>
<p>This may not yet be applied consistently in existing docs.</p>
</section>
<section id="function-arguments">
<h4>Function arguments<a class="headerlink" href="#function-arguments" title="Link to this heading">#</a></h4>
<p>Function arguments and keywords within docstrings should be referred to using
the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">*emphasis*</span></code> role. This will keep Matplotlib's documentation consistent
with Python's documentation:</p>
<div class="highlight-rst notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>Here is a description of <span class="ge">*argument*</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>Do not use the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">`default</span> <span class="pre">role`</span></code>:</p>
<div class="highlight-rst notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>Do not describe <span class="nv">`argument`</span> like this. As per the next section,
this syntax will (unsuccessfully) attempt to resolve the argument as a
link to a class or method in the library.
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>nor the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">``literal``</span></code> role:</p>
<div class="highlight-rst notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>Do not describe <span class="s">``argument``</span> like this.
</pre></div>
</div>
</section>
</section>
<section id="refer-to-other-documents-and-sections">
<span id="internal-section-refs"></span><h3>Refer to other documents and sections<a class="headerlink" href="#refer-to-other-documents-and-sections" title="Link to this heading">#</a></h3>
<p><a class="reference external" href="http://www.sphinx-doc.org">Sphinx</a> supports internal <a class="reference external" href="https://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/stable/usage/restructuredtext/roles.html">references</a>:</p>
<table class="table">
<thead>
<tr class="row-odd"><th class="head"><p>Role</p></th>
<th class="head"><p>Links target</p></th>
<th class="head"><p>Representation in rendered HTML</p></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr class="row-even"><td><p><a class="reference external" href="https://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/master/usage/restructuredtext/roles.html#role-doc"><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">:doc:</span></code></a></p></td>
<td><p>document</p></td>
<td><p>link to a page</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="row-odd"><td><p><a class="reference external" href="https://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/master/usage/restructuredtext/roles.html#role-ref"><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">:ref:</span></code></a></p></td>
<td><p>reference label</p></td>
<td><p>link to an anchor associated with a heading</p></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Examples:</p>
<div class="highlight-rst notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>See the <span class="na">:doc:</span><span class="nv">`/users/installing/index`</span>
See the tutorial <span class="na">:ref:</span><span class="nv">`quick_start`</span>
See the example <span class="na">:doc:</span><span class="nv">`/gallery/lines_bars_and_markers/simple_plot`</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>will render as:</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>See the <a class="reference internal" href="../users/installing/index.html"><span class="doc">Installation</span></a></p>
<p>See the tutorial <a class="reference internal" href="../users/explain/quick_start.html#quick-start"><span class="std std-ref">Quick start guide</span></a></p>
<p>See the example <a class="reference internal" href="../gallery/lines_bars_and_markers/simple_plot.html"><span class="doc">Simple Plot</span></a></p>
</div></blockquote>
<p>Sections can also be given reference labels. For instance from the
<a class="reference internal" href="../users/installing/index.html"><span class="doc">Installation</span></a> link:</p>
<div class="highlight-rst notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="p">..</span> <span class="nt">_clean-install:</span>
<span class="gh">How to completely remove Matplotlib</span>
<span class="gh">===================================</span>
Occasionally, problems with Matplotlib can be solved with a clean...
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>and refer to it using the standard reference syntax:</p>
<div class="highlight-rst notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>See <span class="na">:ref:</span><span class="nv">`clean-install`</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>will give the following link: <a class="reference internal" href="../users/installing/index.html#clean-install"><span class="std std-ref">How to completely remove Matplotlib</span></a></p>
<p>To maximize internal consistency in section labeling and references,
use hyphen separated, descriptive labels for section references.
Keep in mind that contents may be reorganized later, so
avoid top level names in references like <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">user</span></code> or <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">devel</span></code>
or <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">faq</span></code> unless necessary, because for example the FAQ "what is a
backend?" could later become part of the users guide, so the label:</p>
<div class="highlight-rst notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="p">..</span> <span class="nt">_what-is-a-backend:</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>is better than:</p>
<div class="highlight-rst notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="p">..</span> <span class="nt">_faq-backend:</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>In addition, since underscores are widely used by Sphinx itself, use
hyphens to separate words.</p>
</section>
<section id="refer-to-other-code">
<span id="referring-to-other-code"></span><h3>Refer to other code<a class="headerlink" href="#refer-to-other-code" title="Link to this heading">#</a></h3>
<p>To link to other methods, classes, or modules in Matplotlib you can use
back ticks, for example:</p>
<div class="highlight-rst notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="nv">`matplotlib.collections.LineCollection`</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>generates a link like this: <a class="reference internal" href="../api/collections_api.html#matplotlib.collections.LineCollection" title="matplotlib.collections.LineCollection"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">matplotlib.collections.LineCollection</span></code></a>.</p>
<p><em>Note:</em> We use the sphinx setting <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">default_role</span> <span class="pre">=</span> <span class="pre">'obj'</span></code> so that you don't
have to use qualifiers like <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">:class:</span></code>, <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">:func:</span></code>, <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">:meth:</span></code> and the likes.</p>
<p>Often, you don't want to show the full package and module name. As long as the
target is unambiguous you can simply leave them out:</p>
<div class="highlight-rst notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="nv">`.LineCollection`</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>and the link still works: <a class="reference internal" href="../api/collections_api.html#matplotlib.collections.LineCollection" title="matplotlib.collections.LineCollection"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">LineCollection</span></code></a>.</p>
<p>If there are multiple code elements with the same name (e.g. <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">plot()</span></code> is a
method in multiple classes), you'll have to extend the definition:</p>
<div class="highlight-rst notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="nv">`.pyplot.plot`</span> or <span class="nv">`.Axes.plot`</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>These will show up as <a class="reference internal" href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.plot.html#matplotlib.pyplot.plot" title="matplotlib.pyplot.plot"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">pyplot.plot</span></code></a> or <a class="reference internal" href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.axes.Axes.plot.html#matplotlib.axes.Axes.plot" title="matplotlib.axes.Axes.plot"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Axes.plot</span></code></a>. To still show only the
last segment you can add a tilde as prefix:</p>
<div class="highlight-rst notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="nv">`~.pyplot.plot`</span> or <span class="nv">`~.Axes.plot`</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>will render as <a class="reference internal" href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.plot.html#matplotlib.pyplot.plot" title="matplotlib.pyplot.plot"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">plot</span></code></a> or <a class="reference internal" href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.axes.Axes.plot.html#matplotlib.axes.Axes.plot" title="matplotlib.axes.Axes.plot"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">plot</span></code></a>.</p>
<p>Other packages can also be linked via
<a class="reference external" href="http://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/master/ext/intersphinx.html">intersphinx</a>:</p>
<div class="highlight-rst notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="nv">`numpy.mean`</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>will return this link: <a class="reference external" href="https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.mean.html#numpy.mean" title="(in NumPy v1.26)"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">numpy.mean</span></code></a>. This works for Python, Numpy, Scipy,
and Pandas (full list is in <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">doc/conf.py</span></code>). If external linking fails,
you can check the full list of referenceable objects with the following
commands:</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="n">python</span> <span class="o">-</span><span class="n">m</span> <span class="n">sphinx</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">ext</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">intersphinx</span> <span class="s1">'https://docs.python.org/3/objects.inv'</span>
<span class="n">python</span> <span class="o">-</span><span class="n">m</span> <span class="n">sphinx</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">ext</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">intersphinx</span> <span class="s1">'https://numpy.org/doc/stable/objects.inv'</span>
<span class="n">python</span> <span class="o">-</span><span class="n">m</span> <span class="n">sphinx</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">ext</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">intersphinx</span> <span class="s1">'https://docs.scipy.org/doc/scipy/objects.inv'</span>
<span class="n">python</span> <span class="o">-</span><span class="n">m</span> <span class="n">sphinx</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">ext</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">intersphinx</span> <span class="s1">'https://pandas.pydata.org/pandas-docs/stable/objects.inv'</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
</section>
<section id="include-figures-and-files">
<span id="rst-figures-and-includes"></span><h3>Include figures and files<a class="headerlink" href="#include-figures-and-files" title="Link to this heading">#</a></h3>
<p>Image files can directly included in pages with the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">image::</span></code> directive.
e.g., <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">tutorials/intermediate/constrainedlayout_guide.py</span></code> displays
a couple of static images:</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="c1"># .. image:: /_static/constrained_layout_1b.png</span>
<span class="c1"># :align: center</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>Files can be included verbatim. For instance the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">LICENSE</span></code> file is included
at <a class="reference internal" href="../users/project/license.html#license-agreement"><span class="std std-ref">License agreement</span></a> using</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="o">..</span> <span class="n">literalinclude</span><span class="p">::</span> <span class="o">../../</span><span class="n">LICENSE</span><span class="o">/</span><span class="n">LICENSE</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>The examples directory is copied to <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">doc/gallery</span></code> by sphinx-gallery,
so plots from the examples directory can be included using</p>
<div class="highlight-rst notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="p">..</span> <span class="ow">plot</span><span class="p">::</span> gallery/lines_bars_and_markers/simple_plot.py
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>Note that the python script that generates the plot is referred to, rather than
any plot that is created. Sphinx-gallery will provide the correct reference
when the documentation is built.</p>
</section>
<section id="tools-for-writing-mathematical-expressions">
<h3>Tools for writing mathematical expressions<a class="headerlink" href="#tools-for-writing-mathematical-expressions" title="Link to this heading">#</a></h3>
<p>In most cases, you will likely want to use one of <a class="reference external" href="https://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/master/usage/extensions/math.html">Sphinx's builtin Math
extensions</a>.
In rare cases we want the rendering of the mathematical text in the
documentation html to exactly match with the rendering of the mathematical
expression in the Matplotlib figure. In these cases, you can use the
<a class="reference internal" href="../api/sphinxext_mathmpl_api.html#module-matplotlib.sphinxext.mathmpl" title="matplotlib.sphinxext.mathmpl"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">matplotlib.sphinxext.mathmpl</span></code></a> Sphinx extension (See also the
<a class="reference internal" href="../users/explain/text/mathtext.html"><span class="doc">Writing mathematical expressions</span></a> tutorial.)</p>
</section>
</section>
<section id="write-docstrings">
<span id="writing-docstrings"></span><h2>Write docstrings<a class="headerlink" href="#write-docstrings" title="Link to this heading">#</a></h2>
<p>Most of the API documentation is written in docstrings. These are comment
blocks in source code that explain how the code works.</p>
<div class="admonition note">
<p class="admonition-title">Note</p>
<p>Some parts of the documentation do not yet conform to the current
documentation style. If in doubt, follow the rules given here and not what
you may see in the source code. Pull requests updating docstrings to
the current style are very welcome.</p>
</div>
<p>All new or edited docstrings should conform to the <a class="reference external" href="https://numpydoc.readthedocs.io/en/latest/format.html">numpydoc docstring guide</a>.
Much of the <a class="reference external" href="https://docutils.sourceforge.io/rst.html">ReST</a> syntax discussed above (<a class="reference internal" href="#writing-rest-pages"><span class="std std-ref">Write ReST pages</span></a>) can be
used for links and references. These docstrings eventually populate the
<code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">doc/api</span></code> directory and form the reference documentation for the
library.</p>
<section id="example-docstring">
<h3>Example docstring<a class="headerlink" href="#example-docstring" title="Link to this heading">#</a></h3>
<p>An example docstring looks like:</p>
<div class="highlight-python notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="k">def</span> <span class="nf">hlines</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="bp">self</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">y</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">xmin</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">xmax</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">colors</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="kc">None</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">linestyles</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="s1">'solid'</span><span class="p">,</span>
<span class="n">label</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="s1">''</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="o">**</span><span class="n">kwargs</span><span class="p">):</span>
<span class="w"> </span><span class="sd">"""</span>
<span class="sd"> Plot horizontal lines at each *y* from *xmin* to *xmax*.</span>
<span class="sd"> Parameters</span>
<span class="sd"> ----------</span>
<span class="sd"> y : float or array-like</span>
<span class="sd"> y-indexes where to plot the lines.</span>
<span class="sd"> xmin, xmax : float or array-like</span>
<span class="sd"> Respective beginning and end of each line. If scalars are</span>
<span class="sd"> provided, all lines will have the same length.</span>
<span class="sd"> colors : list of colors, default: :rc:`lines.color`</span>
<span class="sd"> linestyles : {'solid', 'dashed', 'dashdot', 'dotted'}, optional</span>
<span class="sd"> label : str, default: ''</span>
<span class="sd"> Returns</span>
<span class="sd"> -------</span>
<span class="sd"> `~matplotlib.collections.LineCollection`</span>
<span class="sd"> Other Parameters</span>
<span class="sd"> ----------------</span>
<span class="sd"> data : indexable object, optional</span>
<span class="sd"> DATA_PARAMETER_PLACEHOLDER</span>
<span class="sd"> **kwargs : `~matplotlib.collections.LineCollection` properties.</span>
<span class="sd"> See Also</span>
<span class="sd"> --------</span>
<span class="sd"> vlines : vertical lines</span>
<span class="sd"> axhline : horizontal line across the Axes</span>
<span class="sd"> """</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>See the <a class="reference internal" href="../api/_as_gen/matplotlib.axes.Axes.hlines.html#matplotlib.axes.Axes.hlines" title="matplotlib.axes.Axes.hlines"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">hlines</span></code></a> documentation for how this renders.</p>
<p>The <a class="reference external" href="http://www.sphinx-doc.org">Sphinx</a> website also contains plenty of <a class="reference external" href="https://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/master/contents.html">documentation</a> concerning ReST
markup and working with Sphinx in general.</p>
</section>
<section id="formatting-conventions">
<h3>Formatting conventions<a class="headerlink" href="#formatting-conventions" title="Link to this heading">#</a></h3>
<p>The basic docstring conventions are covered in the <a class="reference external" href="https://numpydoc.readthedocs.io/en/latest/format.html">numpydoc docstring guide</a>
and the <a class="reference external" href="http://www.sphinx-doc.org">Sphinx</a> documentation. Some Matplotlib-specific formatting conventions
to keep in mind:</p>
<section id="quote-positions">
<h4>Quote positions<a class="headerlink" href="#quote-positions" title="Link to this heading">#</a></h4>
<p>The quotes for single line docstrings are on the same line (pydocstyle D200):</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="k">def</span> <span class="nf">get_linewidth</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="bp">self</span><span class="p">):</span>
<span class="w"> </span><span class="sd">"""Return the line width in points."""</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>The quotes for multi-line docstrings are on separate lines (pydocstyle D213):</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="k">def</span> <span class="nf">set_linestyle</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="bp">self</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">ls</span><span class="p">):</span>
<span class="sd">"""</span>
<span class="sd">Set the linestyle of the line.</span>
<span class="sd">[...]</span>
<span class="sd">"""</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
</section>
<section id="id1">
<h4>Function arguments<a class="headerlink" href="#id1" title="Link to this heading">#</a></h4>
<p>Function arguments and keywords within docstrings should be referred to
using the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">*emphasis*</span></code> role. This will keep Matplotlib's documentation
consistent with Python's documentation:</p>
<div class="highlight-rst notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>If <span class="ge">*linestyles*</span> is <span class="ge">*None*</span>, the default is 'solid'.
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>Do not use the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">`default</span> <span class="pre">role`</span></code> or the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">``literal``</span></code> role:</p>
<div class="highlight-rst notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>Neither <span class="nv">`argument`</span> nor <span class="s">``argument``</span> should be used.
</pre></div>
</div>
</section>
<section id="quotes-for-strings">
<h4>Quotes for strings<a class="headerlink" href="#quotes-for-strings" title="Link to this heading">#</a></h4>
<p>Matplotlib does not have a convention whether to use single-quotes or
double-quotes. There is a mixture of both in the current code.</p>
<p>Use simple single or double quotes when giving string values, e.g.</p>
<div class="highlight-rst notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>If 'tight', try to figure out the tight bbox of the figure.
No <span class="s">``'extra'``</span> literal quotes.
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>The use of extra literal quotes around the text is discouraged. While they
slightly improve the rendered docs, they are cumbersome to type and difficult
to read in plain-text docs.</p>
</section>
<section id="parameter-type-descriptions">
<h4>Parameter type descriptions<a class="headerlink" href="#parameter-type-descriptions" title="Link to this heading">#</a></h4>
<p>The main goal for parameter type descriptions is to be readable and
understandable by humans. If the possible types are too complex use a
simplification for the type description and explain the type more
precisely in the text.</p>
<p>Generally, the <a class="reference external" href="https://numpydoc.readthedocs.io/en/latest/format.html">numpydoc docstring guide</a> conventions apply. The following
rules expand on them where the numpydoc conventions are not specific.</p>
<p>Use <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">float</span></code> for a type that can be any number.</p>
<p>Use <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">(float,</span> <span class="pre">float)</span></code> to describe a 2D position. The parentheses should be
included to make the tuple-ness more obvious.</p>
<p>Use <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">array-like</span></code> for homogeneous numeric sequences, which could
typically be a numpy.array. Dimensionality may be specified using <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">2D</span></code>,
<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">3D</span></code>, <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">n-dimensional</span></code>. If you need to have variables denoting the
sizes of the dimensions, use capital letters in brackets
(<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">(M,</span> <span class="pre">N)</span> <span class="pre">array-like</span></code>). When referring to them in the text they are easier
read and no special formatting is needed. Use <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">array</span></code> instead of
<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">array-like</span></code> for return types if the returned object is indeed a numpy array.</p>
<p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">float</span></code> is the implicit default dtype for array-likes. For other dtypes
use <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">array-like</span> <span class="pre">of</span> <span class="pre">int</span></code>.</p>
<p>Some possible uses:</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="mi">2</span><span class="n">D</span> <span class="n">array</span><span class="o">-</span><span class="n">like</span>
<span class="p">(</span><span class="n">N</span><span class="p">,)</span> <span class="n">array</span><span class="o">-</span><span class="n">like</span>
<span class="p">(</span><span class="n">M</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">N</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="n">array</span><span class="o">-</span><span class="n">like</span>
<span class="p">(</span><span class="n">M</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">N</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mi">3</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="n">array</span><span class="o">-</span><span class="n">like</span>
<span class="n">array</span><span class="o">-</span><span class="n">like</span> <span class="n">of</span> <span class="nb">int</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>Non-numeric homogeneous sequences are described as lists, e.g.:</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>list of str
list of `.Artist`
</pre></div>
</div>
</section>
<section id="reference-types">
<h4>Reference types<a class="headerlink" href="#reference-types" title="Link to this heading">#</a></h4>
<p>Generally, the rules from <a class="reference internal" href="#referring-to-other-code">referring-to-other-code</a> apply. More specifically:</p>
<p>Use full references <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">`~matplotlib.colors.Normalize`</span></code> with an
abbreviation tilde in parameter types. While the full name helps the
reader of plain text docstrings, the HTML does not need to show the full
name as it links to it. Hence, the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">~</span></code>-shortening keeps it more readable.</p>
<p>Use abbreviated links <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">`.Normalize`</span></code> in the text.</p>
<div class="highlight-rst notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>norm : <span class="nv">`~matplotlib.colors.Normalize`</span>, optional
A <span class="nv">`.Normalize`</span> instance is used to scale luminance data to 0, 1.
</pre></div>
</div>
</section>
<section id="default-values">
<h4>Default values<a class="headerlink" href="#default-values" title="Link to this heading">#</a></h4>
<p>As opposed to the numpydoc guide, parameters need not be marked as
<em>optional</em> if they have a simple default:</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><p>use <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">{name}</span> <span class="pre">:</span> <span class="pre">{type},</span> <span class="pre">default:</span> <span class="pre">{val}</span></code> when possible.</p></li>
<li><p>use <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">{name}</span> <span class="pre">:</span> <span class="pre">{type},</span> <span class="pre">optional</span></code> and describe the default in the text if
it cannot be explained sufficiently in the recommended manner.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>The default value should provide semantic information targeted at a human
reader. In simple cases, it restates the value in the function signature.
If applicable, units should be added.</p>
<div class="highlight-rst notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>Prefer:
interval : int, default: 1000ms
over:
interval : int, default: 1000
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>If <em>None</em> is only used as a sentinel value for "parameter not specified", do
not document it as the default. Depending on the context, give the actual
default, or mark the parameter as optional if not specifying has no particular
effect.</p>
<div class="highlight-rst notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>Prefer:
dpi : float, default: <span class="na">:rc:</span><span class="nv">`figure.dpi`</span>
over:
dpi : float, default: None
You can’t perform that action at this time.