Multi-line text in Matplotlib - Practice Problems & Coding Challenges

Challenge - 5 Problems

❓ Predict Output

intermediate

What is the output of this multi-line text plot code?

Consider the following Python code using matplotlib. What will be the text displayed on the plot?

Matplotlib

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

fig, ax = plt.subplots()
text = "Line 1\nLine 2\nLine 3"
ax.text(0.5, 0.5, text, ha='center', va='center')
plt.show()

A The plot shows three lines of text stacked vertically: 'Line 1', 'Line 2', and 'Line 3' centered on the plot.

B The plot shows the text 'Line 1\nLine 2\nLine 3' as a single line with literal \n characters visible.

C The plot is empty because the text is not displayed without specifying a font size.

D The plot shows only 'Line 1' because matplotlib ignores newlines in text.

💡 Hint

Think about how matplotlib handles newline characters in text strings.

Matplotlib interprets the newline character \n as a line break, so the text is shown on multiple lines stacked vertically.

🔧 Debug

intermediate

Why does this multi-line text not display correctly?

Look at this code snippet:

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

fig, ax = plt.subplots()
text = 'First line\nSecond line\nThird line'
ax.text(0.5, 0.5, text, ha='center', va='center', wrap=True)
plt.show()

Why might the text not wrap or display as expected?

A Because the <code>wrap</code> parameter is not supported by <code>ax.text</code>, so it is ignored.

B Because the text string uses single quotes instead of double quotes, causing an error.

C Because the coordinates (0.5, 0.5) are outside the plot area, so text is not visible.

D Because the <code>ha</code> and <code>va</code> parameters must be set to 'left' and 'top' for multi-line text.

💡 Hint

Check the official documentation for ax.text parameters.

The wrap parameter is not a valid argument for ax.text. Newlines in the string handle line breaks, but wrapping long lines automatically is not supported here.

❓ visualization

advanced

Which option produces a plot with multi-line text using plt.text with custom line spacing?

Given the goal to display multi-line text with extra space between lines, which code snippet achieves this?

A

plt.text(0.5, 0.5, 'Line 1\nLine 2\nLine 3', ha='center', va='center', lineheight=2)
plt.show()

B

plt.text(0.5, 0.5, 'Line 1\nLine 2\nLine 3', ha='center', va='center', line_spacing=2)
plt.show()

C

plt.text(0.5, 0.5, 'Line 1\nLine 2\nLine 3', ha='center', va='center', spacing=2)
plt.show()

D

plt.text(0.5, 0.5, 'Line 1\nLine 2\nLine 3', ha='center', va='center', linespacing=2)
plt.show()

💡 Hint

Check the exact parameter name for line spacing in plt.text.

The correct parameter to control line spacing in matplotlib text is linespacing. Other options are invalid and cause errors.

🧠 Conceptual

advanced

How does matplotlib handle multi-line text alignment?

When using multi-line text in matplotlib, how does the ha (horizontal alignment) parameter affect the text?

A <p><code>ha</code> aligns the entire block of multi-line text as a single unit relative to the x coordinate.</p>

B <p><code>ha</code> aligns each line of the multi-line text relative to the specified x coordinate.</p>

C <p><code>ha</code> only affects the first line of the multi-line text.</p>

D <p><code>ha</code> has no effect on multi-line text alignment.</p>

💡 Hint

Think about how each line is positioned horizontally.

The ha parameter aligns each line individually relative to the x coordinate, so all lines share the same horizontal alignment.

❓ data_output

expert

What is the bounding box size of this multi-line text?

Given this code, what is the approximate bounding box width and height of the multi-line text in display units?

Matplotlib

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

fig, ax = plt.subplots()
text_obj = ax.text(0.5, 0.5, 'Hello\nWorld', ha='center', va='center', fontsize=12)
fig.canvas.draw()
bbox = text_obj.get_window_extent()
width, height = bbox.width, bbox.height
print(round(width), round(height))

A "The width and height are both about 45"

B "The width is about 30 and the height is about 60"

C "The width is about 60 and the height is about 30"

D "The width and height are both about 15"

💡 Hint

Remember that width is usually larger than height for horizontal text, and multi-line text height increases with lines.

The bounding box width is roughly the width of the longest line in pixels (~60), and height is roughly the height of two lines (~30) at fontsize 12.