Bar charts - horizontal

Matplotlib Basics

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Published Oct 5 2025, updated Aug 17 2026

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The barh() function creates horizontal bars.


Syntax:

plt.barh(y, width, height=0.8, left=None, color=None, edgecolor=None, label=None, alpha=1.0)

Parameters:

  • y → category positions (or names)
  • width → bar lengths (data values)
  • height → bar thickness
  • left → starting x-position (for stacking)
  • color → bar fill colour
  • edgecolor → colour of the bar border
  • label → legend label
  • alpha → transparency (0 to 1)



Basic horizontal bar chart example

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt​categories = ['Apples', 'Bananas', 'Cherries', 'Dates']values = [25, 40, 15, 30]​plt.barh(categories, values)plt.title("Basic Horizontal Bar Chart")plt.xlabel("Quantity")plt.ylabel("Fruit Type")plt.show()

matplotlib bar chart horizontal basic example




Bar colours

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt​categories = ['Apples', 'Bananas', 'Cherries', 'Dates']values = [25, 40, 15, 30]​plt.barh(categories, values, color=['lightcoral', 'yellow', 'lightgreen', 'lightblue'])plt.title("Coloured Bars")plt.show()

matplotlib bar chart horizontal colours example




Edge colour and line width

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt​categories = ['Apples', 'Bananas', 'Cherries', 'Dates']values = [25, 40, 15, 30]​plt.barh(categories, values, color='lightblue', edgecolor='black', linewidth=2)plt.title("Horizontal Bars with Borders")plt.show()

matplotlib bar chart horizontal edge colours example




Bar height and offset

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt​categories = ['Apples', 'Bananas', 'Cherries', 'Dates']values = [25, 40, 15, 30]​plt.barh(categories, values, height=0.5, left=5, color='cyan')plt.title("Adjusted Height and Left Offset")plt.show()

matplotlib bar chart horizontal height left example




Add labels on bars

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt​categories = ['Apples', 'Bananas', 'Cherries', 'Dates']values = [25, 40, 15, 30]​bars = plt.barh(categories, values, color='lightgreen')plt.title("Horizontal Bar Chart with Labels")​for bar in bars:    plt.text(bar.get_width() + 1, bar.get_y() + bar.get_height()/2,             str(bar.get_width()), va='center')​plt.show()

matplotlib bar chart horizontal bar labels example




Grouped horizontal bar chart

import matplotlib.pyplot as pltimport numpy as np​y = np.arange(4)values_2024 = [25, 40, 15, 30]values_2025 = [30, 35, 20, 25]​plt.barh(y - 0.2, values_2024, height=0.4, label='2024', color='skyblue')plt.barh(y + 0.2, values_2025, height=0.4, label='2025', color='orange')​plt.yticks(y, ['Apples', 'Bananas', 'Cherries', 'Dates'])plt.xlabel("Quantity")plt.title("Grouped Horizontal Bar Chart")plt.legend()plt.show()

matplotlib bar chart horizontal grouped example




Stacked horizontal bar chart

import matplotlib.pyplot as pltimport numpy as np​categories = ['Apples', 'Bananas', 'Cherries', 'Dates']y = np.arange(4)values_2024 = [25, 40, 15, 30]values_2025 = [30, 35, 20, 25]​plt.barh(categories, values_2024, label='2024', color='green')plt.barh(categories, values_2025, left=values_2024, label='2025', color='lightgreen')​plt.title("Stacked Horizontal Bar Chart")plt.xlabel("Quantity")plt.legend()plt.show()

matplotlib bar chart horizontal stacked example
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