Basics

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import seaborn as sns

%pylab inline
pylab.rcParams['figure.figsize'] = (10.0, 10.0)

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fig, ax = plt.subplots()

# The plot function
plt.plot(x_values, y_values, color='#009933', linestyle='--', linewidth=1.5)

# plot markers
plt.plot(..., marker='o', markevery=50, markerfacecolor='GreenYellow', markersize=10.0)

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# Thicks & scales
plt.xticks(x_ticks, x_ticks_lbl, rotation=60)
ax.get_yaxis().set_major_formatter(plt.FuncFormatter(lambda x, loc: "{:,}".format(int(x))))

# Grid
plt.grid()

# Boundaries
plt.xlim(right=30)
plt.ylim(top=150)

# Save & show
fig.savefig("img.png", bbox_inches="tight")
plt.show()

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# Title, labels and legend
plt.title('Title')
plt.xlabel('x_label')   # use $...$ for LaTeX context
plt.ylabel('y_label')
plt.legend(['legen_plot1', 'legend_plot2'], loc='lower left' | bbox_to_anchor=(0.75, 0.8))
plt.legend((line1, line2, line3), ('label1', 'label2', 'label3')) # full control

# Format
base_fsize = 14
plt.rc('font', size=base_fsize)          # controls default text sizes
plt.rc('axes', titlesize=base_fsize)     # fontsize of the axes title
plt.rc('axes', labelsize=base_fsize+4)    # fontsize of the x and y labels
plt.rc('xtick', labelsize=base_fsize)    # fontsize of the tick labels
plt.rc('ytick', labelsize=base_fsize)    # fontsize of the tick labels
plt.rc('legend', fontsize=base_fsize)    # legend fontsize

Other plot types

# Rectangle
from matplotlib.patches import Rectangle
plt.gca().add_patch(Rectangle((x0, y0), dx, dy, alpha=0.1, color='gray'))

Seaborn

import seaborn as sns

sns.set_style("white")