如何在matplotlib中格式化多个图的x轴

Question

I'm currently generating three different figures and I'm having trouble trying to set the format for the x-axis for all three plots. This is what I have currently.

    fig, ax = plt.subplots()

    plt.figure(1)
    formatter = DateFormatter('%m/%d/%y')
    ax.xaxis.set_major_formatter(formatter)
    ax.xaxis.set_tick_params(rotation=30)
    plt.plot_date(dates1, y1)
    plt.show()

    plt.figure(2)
    formatter = DateFormatter('%m/%d/%y')
    ax.xaxis.set_major_formatter(formatter)
    ax.xaxis.set_tick_params(rotation=30)
    plt.plot_date(dates2, y2)
    plt.show()

    plt.figure(3)
    formatter = DateFormatter('%m/%d/%y')
    ax.xaxis.set_major_formatter(formatter)
    ax.xaxis.set_tick_params(rotation=30)
    plt.plot_date(dates3, y3)
    plt.show()

The first figure is formatted as desired but the second and third figure can't seem to detect the x-axis formatting specified. What is the correct way of doing this and is there a way to set the formatting for all three graphs at once?

Answer 1

You can use plt.close() to discard plot instances. Or assign each to it's own variable.

    plt.figure(1)
    formatter = DateFormatter('%m/%d/%y')
    ax.xaxis.set_major_formatter(formatter)
    ax.xaxis.set_tick_params(rotation=30)
    plt.plot_date(dates1, y1)
    plt.show()
    plt.close()


    plt.figure(2)
    formatter = DateFormatter('%m/%d/%y')
    ax.xaxis.set_major_formatter(formatter)
    ax.xaxis.set_tick_params(rotation=30)
    plt.plot_date(dates2, y2)
    plt.show()
    plt.close()

    plt.figure(3)
    formatter = DateFormatter('%m/%d/%y')
    ax.xaxis.set_major_formatter(formatter)
    ax.xaxis.set_tick_params(rotation=30)
    plt.plot_date(dates3, y3)
    plt.show()
    plt.close()