How to rotate tick labels in a subplot in Matplotlib?

In Matplotlib, you can rotate tick labels in subplots using the rotation parameter with set_xticklabels() and set_yticklabels() methods. This is useful when tick labels are long or overlapping.

Basic Tick Label Rotation

Here's how to rotate tick labels in a subplot ?

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

# Configure figure settings
plt.rcParams["figure.figsize"] = [7.00, 3.50]
plt.rcParams["figure.autolayout"] = True

# Create tick positions
x = [1, 2, 3, 4]

# Create subplot
ax1 = plt.subplot()

# Set tick positions
ax1.set_xticks(x)
ax1.set_yticks(x)

# Set rotated tick labels
ax1.set_xticklabels(["one", "two", "three", "four"], rotation=45)
ax1.set_yticklabels(["one", "two", "three", "four"], rotation=45)

# Customize tick appearance
ax1.tick_params(axis="both", direction="in", pad=15)

plt.show()

Different Rotation Angles

You can use various rotation angles for different effects ?

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

# Create sample data
categories = ["Category A", "Category B", "Category C", "Category D"]
values = [23, 45, 56, 78]

fig, axes = plt.subplots(2, 2, figsize=(10, 8))

# No rotation
axes[0,0].bar(categories, values)
axes[0,0].set_title("No Rotation (0°)")

# 30 degree rotation
axes[0,1].bar(categories, values)
axes[0,1].set_xticklabels(categories, rotation=30)
axes[0,1].set_title("30° Rotation")

# 45 degree rotation
axes[1,0].bar(categories, values)
axes[1,0].set_xticklabels(categories, rotation=45)
axes[1,0].set_title("45° Rotation")

# Vertical rotation
axes[1,1].bar(categories, values)
axes[1,1].set_xticklabels(categories, rotation=90)
axes[1,1].set_title("Vertical (90°)")

plt.tight_layout()
plt.show()

Key Parameters

Advanced Formatting

For better control over label positioning and appearance ?

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

# Create subplot with long labels
labels = ["Very Long Label 1", "Another Long Label", "Third Long Label", "Fourth Label"]
values = [10, 25, 15, 30]

fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(8, 6))
ax.bar(labels, values)

# Rotate with alignment control
ax.set_xticklabels(labels, rotation=45, ha='right', va='top')

# Add padding and customize ticks
ax.tick_params(axis='x', pad=10)

plt.tight_layout()
plt.show()

Conclusion

Use the rotation parameter with set_xticklabels() to rotate tick labels at any angle. Combine with ha and va parameters for proper alignment, and use tight_layout() to prevent label cutoff.