How do I change x and y axes in matplotlib?

Question

I am using matplotlib to draw neuralnet. I found a code that draws neural net, but it is oriented from top to bottom. I would like to change the orientation from left to right. So basically I would like to change x and y axes after I already plotted all the shapes. Is there an easy way to do this? I also found an answer that said that you can change parameter "orientation" to horizontal (code below) but I don't really understand where in my code should I copy that. would that give me the same result?

matplotlib.pyplot.hist(x, 
                   bins=10, 
                   range=None, 
                   normed=False, 
                   weights=None, 
                   cumulative=False, 
                   bottom=None, 
                   histtype=u'bar', 
                   align=u'mid', 
                   orientation=u'vertical', 
                   rwidth=None, 
                   log=False, 
                   color=None, 
                   label=None, 
                   stacked=False, 
                   hold=None, 
                   **kwargs)

Answer 1

What you have in your code is an example of how to launch an histogram in matplotlib. Notice you are using the pyplot default interface (and not necessarily building your own figure).

As so this line:

orientation=u'vertical',

should be:

orientation=u'horizontal',

, if you want the bars to go from left to right. This however will not help you with the y axis. For you to invert the y axis you should use the command:

plt.gca().invert_yaxis()

The following example shows you how to build an histogram from random data (asymmetric to be easier to perceive modifications). The first plot is the normal histogram, the second I change the histogram orientation; in the last I invert the y axis.

import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

data = np.random.exponential(1, 100)

# Showing the first plot.
plt.hist(data, bins=10)
plt.show()

# Cleaning the plot (useful if you want to draw new shapes without closing the figure
# but quite useless for this particular example. I put it here as an example).
plt.gcf().clear()

# Showing the plot with horizontal orientation
plt.hist(data, bins=10, orientation='horizontal')
plt.show()

# Cleaning the plot.
plt.gcf().clear()

# Showing the third plot with orizontal orientation and inverted y axis.
plt.hist(data, bins=10, orientation='horizontal')
plt.gca().invert_yaxis()
plt.show()

The result for plot 1 is (default histogram):

The second (changed bar orientation):

And finally the third (inverted y axis):