Using Pandas Series of dates(strings) as x ticks on a plot

Question

I have 3 csv's with stock data, all from 2012-01-1 to 2017-01-01. I have used Pandas to make Dataframes out of them, and am instructed to turn them into this example plot: [Desired outcome][1]

My only issue is that Pandas isn't taking the 'Date' Series from my Dataframe to create the X axis of time like in the picture, instead I get an X axis of values 0-1400 [My failed plot][2] (I have 1258 dates, so it's getting the index of the date rather than the date itself).

This is my code for the plot right now:

ford['Open'].plot()
tesla['Open'].plot()
GM['Open'].plot(x=ford['Date'],figsize=(16,8),title='Open price',xlabel='Date')
plt.legend(['Ford','Tesla','GM'])

I have tried using the xticks argument and passing it tesla['Date'] (The name of the date series), but when I do I get this error:

ConversionError: Failed to convert value(s) to axis units: 0 2012-01-03 1 2012-01-04 2 2012-01-05 3 2012-01-06 4 2012-01-09 ...
1253 2016-12-23 1254 2016-12-27 1255 2016-12-28 1256 2016-12-29 1257 2016-12-30 Name: Date, Length: 1258, dtype: object

I couldn't find this particular issue on google and I've looked for an hour. I'm definitely missing something but I don't know what. Thanks for any help [1]: https://i.sstatic.net/bz8GU.png [2]: https://i.sstatic.net/lSihy.png

r-beginners · Accepted Answer · 2022-02-17 12:31:30Z

1

With pandas plots, you can create a graph by stacking each of them without specifying the x-axis. The data was obtained from Yahoo Finance in one-month units.

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

fig = plt.figure()
ford['Open'].plot()
tesla['Open'].plot()
GM['Open'].plot(figsize=(16,8),title='Open price',xlabel='Date')
plt.legend(['Ford','Tesla','GM'])
plt.show()

answered Feb 17, 2022 at 12:31

r-beginners

35.6k3 gold badges20 silver badges41 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

1 Comment

VicN Over a year ago

This is the best answer for this particular problem (with pandas). See my answer below for more general pyplot labelling, especially if you want more control over your labels.

VicN · Accepted Answer · 2022-02-17 12:30:00Z

0

Select the index of the dates you want to display (say, one tick every 200 value), and use plt.xticks. Try this:

import numpy as np

ford['Open'].plot()
tesla['Open'].plot()
GM['Open'].plot()
plt.legend(['Ford','Tesla','GM'])
ticks = np.arange(0, len(ford['Date']), 200)
plt.xticks(ticks, ford['Date'][ticks])

answered Feb 17, 2022 at 12:30

VicN

3512 silver badges7 bronze badges

3 Comments

Rey Fit Over a year ago

Thank you so much, this worked! But I'm not sure why. What does the last [ticks] do to ford['Date']?

VicN Over a year ago

You're welcome. ford['Date'] is an array of all dates, and ticks contains the indexes of the dates you wish to keep for the plot labelling. So ford['Date'][ticks] returns an array with only the dates that will be displayed. Is that clearer?

Rey Fit Over a year ago

Yes it is, thanks a lot I was really struggling with that one

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Using Pandas Series of dates(strings) as x ticks on a plot

2 Answers 2

1 Comment

3 Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

1 Comment

3 Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related