.. _e9d36037e363f04acbc668ec7c408237:

A 'better' step function for matplotlib
=======================================

.. note:: The original gist can be found at: `https://gist.github.com/e9d36037e363f04acbc668ec7c408237 <https://gist.github.com/e9d36037e363f04acbc668ec7c408237>`_

betterstep.py
-------------

::

    import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
    
    def betterstep(bins, y, **kwargs):
        """A 'better' version of matplotlib's step function
        
        Given a set of bin edges and bin heights, this plots the thing
        that I wish matplotlib's ``step`` command plotted. All extra
        arguments are passed directly to matplotlib's ``plot`` command.
        
        Args:
            bins: The bin edges. This should be one element longer than
                the bin heights array ``y``.
            y: The bin heights.
            ax (Optional): The axis where this should be plotted.
        
        """
        new_x = [a for row in zip(bins[:-1], bins[1:]) for a in row]
        new_y = [a for row in zip(y, y) for a in row]
        ax = kwargs.pop("ax", plt.gca())
        return ax.plot(new_x, new_y, **kwargs)


demo.py
-------

::

    import numpy as np
    import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
    from betterstep import betterstep
    
    x = np.random.uniform(0, 2*np.pi, 500)
    y = np.sin(x) + np.random.randn(len(x))
    bins = np.linspace(0, 2*np.pi, 25)
    num, _ = np.histogram(x, bins, weights=y)
    denom, _ = np.histogram(x, bins)
    
    plt.plot(x, y, ".k", alpha=0.2)
    betterstep(bins, num / denom, linewidth=2)