Move radial tick labels on a polar plot in matplotlib

alkamid picture alkamid · Apr 1, 2015 · Viewed 12.2k times · Source

From matplotlib examples:

import numpy as np
import seaborn as sbs
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

r = np.arange(0, 3.0, 0.01)
theta = 2 * np.pi * r

ax = plt.subplot(111, polar=True)
ax.plot(theta, r, color='r', linewidth=3)
ax.set_rmax(2.0)
ax.grid(True)

ax.set_title("A line plot on a polar axis", va='bottom')
plt.show()

polar plot

How to move the radial tick labels (0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0) to a different angle, say 120 deg?

Answer

Ajean picture Ajean · Apr 1, 2015

With version 1.4 or later, you can use "set_rlabel_position". e.g. to place the radial ticks a long a line at, say, 135 degrees:

ax.set_rlabel_position(135)

The relevant documentation is residing here, a bit hidden under "projections".

Adding the line above yields (I don't have seaborn so this has default matplotlib formatting):

polar axis example ticks at 135 degrees

Prior to 1.4, ax.set_rgrids can take an angle argument.