how to handle an asymptote/discontinuity with Matplotlib

Question

When plotting a graph with a discontinuity/asymptote/singularity/whatever, is there any automatic way to prevent Matplotlib from 'joining the dots' across the 'break'? (please see code/image below).
I read that Sage has a [detect_poles] facility that looked good, but I really want it to work with Matplotlib.

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt 
import numpy as np
from sympy import sympify, lambdify
from sympy.abc import x

fig = plt.figure(1) 
ax = fig.add_subplot(111) 

# set up axis 
ax.spines['left'].set_position('zero') 
ax.spines['right'].set_color('none') 
ax.spines['bottom'].set_position('zero') 
ax.spines['top'].set_color('none') 
ax.xaxis.set_ticks_position('bottom') 
ax.yaxis.set_ticks_position('left') 

# setup x and y ranges and precision
xx = np.arange(-0.5,5.5,0.01) 

# draw my curve 
myfunction=sympify(1/(x-2))
mylambdifiedfunction=lambdify(x,myfunction,'numpy')
ax.plot(xx, mylambdifiedfunction(xx),zorder=100,linewidth=3,color='red') 

#set bounds 
ax.set_xbound(-1,6)
ax.set_ybound(-4,4) 

plt.show()

Answer 1

By using masked arrays you can avoid plotting selected regions of a curve.

To remove the singularity at x=2:

import matplotlib.numerix.ma as M    # for older versions, prior to .98
#import numpy.ma as M                # for newer versions of matplotlib
from pylab import *

figure()

xx = np.arange(-0.5,5.5,0.01) 
vals = 1/(xx-2)        
vals = M.array(vals)
mvals = M.masked_where(xx==2, vals)

subplot(121)
plot(xx, mvals, linewidth=3, color='red') 
xlim(-1,6)
ylim(-5,5) 

This simple curve might be a bit more clear on which points are excluded:

xx = np.arange(0,6,.2) 
vals = M.array(xx)
mvals = M.masked_where(vals%2==0, vals)
subplot(122)
plot(xx, mvals, color='b', linewidth=3)
plot(xx, vals, 'rx')
show()