Matplotlib control which plot is on top

Question

I am wondering if there is a way to control which plot lies on top of other plots if one makes multiple plots on one axis. An example:

As you can see, the g

Answer 1

Yes, you can. Just use zorder parameter. The higher the value, more on top the plot shall be.

fig = plt.figure()
ax1 = fig.add_subplot(111)
ax1.plot(series1_x, series1_y, zorder=3)

ax2 = fig.add_subplot(111)
ax2.plot(series2_x, series2_y, zorder=4)

ax3 = fig.add_subplot(111)
ax3.scatter(series2_x, series2_y, zorder=5)

Alternatively, you can do line and marker plot at the same time. You can even set different colors for line and marker face.

fig = plt.figure()
ax1 = fig.add_subplot(111)
ax1.plot(series1_x, series1_y)

ax2 = fig.add_subplot(111)
ax2.plot(series2_x, series2_y, '-o', color='b', mfc='k')

The '-o' sets plot style to line and circle markers, color='b' sets line color to blue and mfc='k' sets the marker face color to black.

Answer 2

Another solution besides using zorder, and worth knowing: You can simply plot a scatter of points using the plot command. Something like plot(series2_x, series2_y, ' o'). Note the ' o' with a space means no lines but circle points. This way the order of plotting them on the axes does put them on top.

Answer 3

Use the zorder kwarg where the lower the zorder the further back the plot, e.g.

plt.plot(series1_x, series1_y, zorder=1)
plt.plot(series2_x, series2_y, zorder=2)
plt.scatter(series2_x, series2_y, zorder=3)