PyTplot

Based on IDL tplot, plots and manipulates time series data

Pytplot is a python package which aims to mimic the functionality of the IDL "tplot" libraries for analysis and visualization of heliophysics time series data. This is the modified (matplotlib) version of the pytplot package. This version is used in the pyspedas project, which is a python rewrite of the IDL SPEDAS software. This matplotlib version is PyTplot's 2.x line, developed on the repository's matplotlib-backend branch and published on PyPI only as pytplot-mpl-temp (versions 2.0.0 through 2.2.79); it is imported as pytplot. It is not the original pytplot package on PyPI (versions up to 1.7.28), which plots with pyqtgraph (Qt) and Bokeh. PyTplot has since moved into PySPEDAS. In the words of the PySPEDAS README: "Previous releases of PySPEDAS depended on the external pytplot or pytplot-mpl-temp Python packages. Starting with PySPEDAS 2.0, these external packages are no longer required -- their functionality is now included directly in PySPEDAS." The first full PySPEDAS 2.0 release was 2.0.5, in November 2025. Pytplot can be used in python scripts, or interactively through IPython and the Jupyter notebook. Data is read into pytplot by using the "store_data" command. Each dataset is assigned a unique name by the user. The data is stored in a "tplot variable" class. The tplot variables contain all the information required to create a plot of the dataset. The details of the plot, such as axis titles, types, line colors, etc, can be changed through other functions in pytplot.