Change matplotlib line style mid-graph

Question

I'm graphing some data (two lines) and I'd like to change the line style for the portions of the lines where the difference between them is statistically significant. So, in the below image (now a link b/c anti-spam policies don't allow me to post an image) I'd like the lines to look different (i.e. dashed perhaps) up until they start converging at about 35 on the x axis.

line plot

Is there a way to do this easily? I have the values for the x axis where the differences are significant, I'm just not clear how to change line styles at certain x-axis locations.

Answer 1

Edit: I'd had this open and left, so I didn't notice @Ricardo's answer. Because matplotlib will convert things to numpy arrays regardless, there are more efficient ways to do it.

As an example:

Just plot two different lines, one with a dashed linestyle and another with a solid linestyle.

E.g.

import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

x = np.linspace(0, 10, 100)
y1 = 2 * x
y2 = 3 * x

xthresh = 4.5
diff = np.abs(y1 - y2)
below = diff < xthresh
above = diff >= xthresh

# Plot lines below threshold as dotted...
plt.plot(x[below], y1[below], 'b--')
plt.plot(x[below], y2[below], 'g--')

# Plot lines above threshold as solid...
plt.plot(x[above], y1[above], 'b-')
plt.plot(x[above], y2[above], 'g-')

plt.show()

For the case where they're cyclic, use masked arrays:

import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

x = np.linspace(0, 10, 100)
y1 = 2 * np.cos(x)
y2 = 3 * np.sin(x)

xthresh = 2.0
diff = np.abs(y1 - y2)
below = diff < xthresh
above = diff >= xthresh

# Plot lines below threshold as dotted...
plt.plot(np.ma.masked_where(below, x), np.ma.masked_where(below, y1), 'b--')
plt.plot(np.ma.masked_where(below, x), np.ma.masked_where(below, y2), 'g--')

# Plot lines above threshold as solid...
plt.plot(np.ma.masked_where(above, x), np.ma.masked_where(above, y1), 'b-')
plt.plot(np.ma.masked_where(above, x), np.ma.masked_where(above, y2), 'g-')

plt.show()