Plot two histograms on single chart with matplotlib

As a completion to Gustavo Bezerra's answer:

If you want each histogram to be normalized (normed for mpl<=2.1 and density for mpl>=3.1) you cannot just use normed/density=True, you need to set the weights for each value instead:

import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

x = np.random.normal(1, 2, 5000)
y = np.random.normal(-1, 3, 2000)
x_w = np.empty(x.shape)
x_w.fill(1/x.shape[0])
y_w = np.empty(y.shape)
y_w.fill(1/y.shape[0])
bins = np.linspace(-10, 10, 30)

plt.hist([x, y], bins, weights=[x_w, y_w], label=['x', 'y'])
plt.legend(loc='upper right')
plt.show()

enter image description here

As a comparison, the exact same x and y vectors with default weights and density=True:

enter image description here


The accepted answers gives the code for a histogram with overlapping bars, but in case you want each bar to be side-by-side (as I did), try the variation below:

import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
plt.style.use('seaborn-deep')

x = np.random.normal(1, 2, 5000)
y = np.random.normal(-1, 3, 2000)
bins = np.linspace(-10, 10, 30)

plt.hist([x, y], bins, label=['x', 'y'])
plt.legend(loc='upper right')
plt.show()

enter image description here

Reference: http://matplotlib.org/examples/statistics/histogram_demo_multihist.html

EDIT [2018/03/16]: Updated to allow plotting of arrays of different sizes, as suggested by @stochastic_zeitgeist


Here you have a working example:

import random
import numpy
from matplotlib import pyplot

x = [random.gauss(3,1) for _ in range(400)]
y = [random.gauss(4,2) for _ in range(400)]

bins = numpy.linspace(-10, 10, 100)

pyplot.hist(x, bins, alpha=0.5, label='x')
pyplot.hist(y, bins, alpha=0.5, label='y')
pyplot.legend(loc='upper right')
pyplot.show()

enter image description here


In the case you have different sample sizes, it may be difficult to compare the distributions with a single y-axis. For example:

import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

#makes the data
y1 = np.random.normal(-2, 2, 1000)
y2 = np.random.normal(2, 2, 5000)
colors = ['b','g']

#plots the histogram
fig, ax1 = plt.subplots()
ax1.hist([y1,y2],color=colors)
ax1.set_xlim(-10,10)
ax1.set_ylabel("Count")
plt.tight_layout()
plt.show()

hist_single_ax

In this case, you can plot your two data sets on different axes. To do so, you can get your histogram data using matplotlib, clear the axis, and then re-plot it on two separate axes (shifting the bin edges so that they don't overlap):

#sets up the axis and gets histogram data
fig, ax1 = plt.subplots()
ax2 = ax1.twinx()
ax1.hist([y1, y2], color=colors)
n, bins, patches = ax1.hist([y1,y2])
ax1.cla() #clear the axis

#plots the histogram data
width = (bins[1] - bins[0]) * 0.4
bins_shifted = bins + width
ax1.bar(bins[:-1], n[0], width, align='edge', color=colors[0])
ax2.bar(bins_shifted[:-1], n[1], width, align='edge', color=colors[1])

#finishes the plot
ax1.set_ylabel("Count", color=colors[0])
ax2.set_ylabel("Count", color=colors[1])
ax1.tick_params('y', colors=colors[0])
ax2.tick_params('y', colors=colors[1])
plt.tight_layout()
plt.show()

hist_twin_ax