Bar charts - vertical

Matplotlib Basics

1 min read

Published Oct 5 2025

ChartsGraphsMatplotlibNumPyPandasPythonVisualisation

The bar() function creates vertical bars.

Syntax:

plt.bar(x, height, width=0.8, bottom=None, color=None, edgecolor=None, label=None, alpha=1.0)

Parameters:

x → x-axis positions or categories
height → heights of the bars
width → width of each bar (default 0.8)
bottom → y-value at which bars start (default 0)
color → bar fill colour
edgecolor → colour of the bar border
label → legend label
alpha → transparency (0 to 1)

Basic example

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

x = ['A', 'B', 'C', 'D']

y = [5, 7, 3, 8]

plt.bar(x, y)

plt.title("Basic Vertical Bar Chart")

plt.xlabel("Categories")

plt.ylabel("Values")

plt.show()

matplotlib bar chart vertical basic example

Customise bar colours

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

x = ['A', 'B', 'C', 'D']

y = [5, 7, 3, 8]

colours = ['red', 'green', 'blue', 'orange']

plt.bar(x, y, color=colours)

plt.title("Bar Chart with Colours")

plt.show()

matplotlib bar chart vertical colours example

Add edge colour and width

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

x = ['A', 'B', 'C', 'D']

y = [5, 7, 3, 8]

plt.bar(x, y, color='lightgreen', edgecolor='black', linewidth=2)

plt.title("Bar Chart with Edges")

plt.show()

matplotlib bar chart vertical edge colours example

Bar width and bottom offset

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

x = ['A', 'B', 'C', 'D']

y = [5, 7, 3, 8]

plt.bar(x, y, width=0.2, bottom=2, color='red')

plt.title("Bar Chart with Width and Bottom Offset")

plt.show()

matplotlib bar chart vertical width bottom example

Add labels on top of the bars

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

x = ['A', 'B', 'C', 'D']

y = [5, 7, 3, 8]

bars = plt.bar(x, y, color='lightgreen')

plt.title("Bar Chart with Labels")

for bar in bars:

plt.text(bar.get_x() + bar.get_width()/2, bar.get_height(),

str(bar.get_height()), ha='center', va='bottom')

plt.show()

matplotlib bar chart vertical bar labels example

Grouped bar chart

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

import numpy as np

x = np.arange(4)

y1 = [5, 7, 3, 8]

y2 = [6, 4, 7, 5]

plt.bar(x - 0.2, y1, width=0.4, label='2024')

plt.bar(x + 0.2, y2, width=0.4, label='2025')

plt.xticks(x, ['A','B','C','D'])

plt.legend()

plt.title("Grouped Vertical Bar Chart")

plt.show()

matplotlib bar chart vertical grouped example

Stacked bar chart

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

import numpy as np

x = np.arange(4) # positions

y1 = [5, 7, 3, 8]

y2 = [6, 4, 7, 5]

plt.bar(x, y1, label='2024', color='skyblue')

plt.bar(x, y2, bottom=y1, label='2025', color='orange')

plt.xticks(x, ['A','B','C','D'])

plt.legend()

plt.title("Stacked Vertical Bar Chart")

plt.show()

matplotlib bar chart vertical stacked example

Bar charts - vertical

Matplotlib Basics

1 min read

Published Oct 5 2025

Guide Sections

Guide Comments

Basic example

Customise bar colours

Add edge colour and width

Bar width and bottom offset

Add labels on top of the bars

Grouped bar chart

Stacked bar chart

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