Plotting syntax
Steven D'Aprano
steve+comp.lang.python at pearwood.info
Wed Feb 6 20:56:57 EST 2013
On Wed, 06 Feb 2013 10:37:07 -0500, Vladimir Ivkovic wrote:
> Hi Python experts,
>
> I am working with an array of data and am trying to plot several columns
> of data which are not continuous; i.e. I would like to plot columns 1:4
> and 6:8, without plotting column 5. The syntax I am currently using is:
>
> oplot (t,d[:,0:4])
>
> The question is: How do I specify within the above command, for columns
> 6:8 to be plotted?
You don't give us enough information to be sure:
- you don't tell us what library oplot comes from;
- you don't tell us what t is;
- you don't tell us what d is;
- and d[:,0:4] looks like it could be a SyntaxError or a typo.
But assuming that what you tell us actually is correct, then obviously if
oplot (t,d[:,0:4]) plots columns 1-4, then oplot (t,d[:,5:8]) will surely
plot columns 6-8.
Python counts starting from 0, not 1, and uses half-open intervals: when
giving a range of indexes, like 0:4, Python interprets that as follows:
item at index 0 (the first item)
item at index 1 (the second item)
item at index 2 (the third item)
item at index 3 (the fourth item)
with index 4 being excluded.
So 5:8 will include the sixth through eighth items.
This notation is called "slicing", and d[0:4] is called "a slice".
The idea is that if you number the items starting from zero, and imagine
the boundaries between items (shown as | vertical lines):
|0|1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|10|11 ...
then always slice on the boundary to the left of the given number:
slice [0:4] => |0|1|2|3|
slice [5:8] => |5|6|7|
The only tricky part is remembering to count from zero instead of one.
--
Steven
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