JavaScript Figure Reference: scatter Traces

A scatter trace is an object with the key "type" equal to "scatter" (i.e. {"type": "scatter"}) and any of the keys listed below.

The scatter trace type encompasses line charts, scatter charts, text charts, and bubble charts. The data visualized as scatter point or lines is set in `x` and `y`. Text (appearing either on the chart or on hover only) is via `text`. Bubble charts are achieved by setting `marker.size` and/or `marker.color` to numerical arrays.

  • type
    Parent: data[type=scatter]
    Type: "scatter"
  • name
    Parent: data[type=scatter]
    Type: string

    Sets the trace name. The trace name appears as the legend item and on hover.

  • visible
    Parent: data[type=scatter]
    Type: enumerated , one of ( true | false | "legendonly" )
    Default: true

    Determines whether or not this trace is visible. If "legendonly", the trace is not drawn, but can appear as a legend item (provided that the legend itself is visible).

  • showlegend
    Parent: data[type=scatter]
    Type: boolean
    Default: true

    Determines whether or not an item corresponding to this trace is shown in the legend.

  • legend
    Parent: data[type=scatter]
    Type: subplotid
    Default: legend

    Sets the reference to a legend to show this trace in. References to these legends are "legend", "legend2", "legend3", etc. Settings for these legends are set in the layout, under `layout.legend`, `layout.legend2`, etc.

  • legendrank
    Parent: data[type=scatter]
    Type: number
    Default: 1000

    Sets the legend rank for this trace. Items and groups with smaller ranks are presented on top/left side while with "reversed" `legend.traceorder` they are on bottom/right side. The default legendrank is 1000, so that you can use ranks less than 1000 to place certain items before all unranked items, and ranks greater than 1000 to go after all unranked items. When having unranked or equal rank items shapes would be displayed after traces i.e. according to their order in data and layout.

  • legendgroup
    Parent: data[type=scatter]
    Type: string
    Default: ""

    Sets the legend group for this trace. Traces and shapes part of the same legend group hide/show at the same time when toggling legend items.

  • legendgrouptitle
    Parent: data[type=scatter]
    Type: object containing one or more of the keys listed below.
    • font
      Parent: data[type=scatter].legendgrouptitle
      Type: object containing one or more of the keys listed below.

      Sets this legend group's title font.

      • color
        Parent: data[type=scatter].legendgrouptitle.font
        Type: color
      • family
        Parent: data[type=scatter].legendgrouptitle.font
        Type: string

        HTML font family - the typeface that will be applied by the web browser. The web browser can only apply a font if it is available on the system where it runs. Provide multiple font families, separated by commas, to indicate the order in which to apply fonts if they aren't available.

      • lineposition
        Parent: data[type=scatter].legendgrouptitle.font
        Type: flaglist string. Any combination of "under", "over", "through" joined with a "+" OR "none".
        Examples: "under", "over", "under+over", "under+over+through", "none"
        Default: "none"

        Sets the kind of decoration line(s) with text, such as an "under", "over" or "through" as well as combinations e.g. "under+over", etc.

      • shadow
        Parent: data[type=scatter].legendgrouptitle.font
        Type: string
        Default: "none"

        Sets the shape and color of the shadow behind text. "auto" places minimal shadow and applies contrast text font color. See https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/text-shadow for additional options.

      • size
        Parent: data[type=scatter].legendgrouptitle.font
        Type: number greater than or equal to 1
      • style
        Parent: data[type=scatter].legendgrouptitle.font
        Type: enumerated , one of ( "normal" | "italic" )
        Default: "normal"

        Sets whether a font should be styled with a normal or italic face from its family.

      • textcase
        Parent: data[type=scatter].legendgrouptitle.font
        Type: enumerated , one of ( "normal" | "word caps" | "upper" | "lower" )
        Default: "normal"

        Sets capitalization of text. It can be used to make text appear in all-uppercase or all-lowercase, or with each word capitalized.

      • variant
        Parent: data[type=scatter].legendgrouptitle.font
        Type: enumerated , one of ( "normal" | "small-caps" | "all-small-caps" | "all-petite-caps" | "petite-caps" | "unicase" )
        Default: "normal"

        Sets the variant of the font.

      • weight
        Parent: data[type=scatter].legendgrouptitle.font
        Type: integer between or equal to 1 and 1000
        Default: normal

        Sets the weight (or boldness) of the font.

    • text
      Parent: data[type=scatter].legendgrouptitle
      Type: string
      Default: ""

      Sets the title of the legend group.

  • legendwidth
    Parent: data[type=scatter]
    Type: number greater than or equal to 0

    Sets the width (in px or fraction) of the legend for this trace.

  • opacity
    Parent: data[type=scatter]
    Type: number between or equal to 0 and 1
    Default: 1

    Sets the opacity of the trace.

  • mode
    Parent: data[type=scatter]
    Type: flaglist string. Any combination of "lines", "markers", "text" joined with a "+" OR "none".
    Examples: "lines", "markers", "lines+markers", "lines+markers+text", "none"

    Determines the drawing mode for this scatter trace. If the provided `mode` includes "text" then the `text` elements appear at the coordinates. Otherwise, the `text` elements appear on hover. If there are less than 20 points and the trace is not stacked then the default is "lines+markers". Otherwise, "lines".

  • ids
    Parent: data[type=scatter]
    Type: data array

    Assigns id labels to each datum. These ids for object constancy of data points during animation. Should be an array of strings, not numbers or any other type.

  • zorder
    Parent: data[type=scatter]
    Type: integer
    Default: 0

    Sets the layer on which this trace is displayed, relative to other SVG traces on the same subplot. SVG traces with higher `zorder` appear in front of those with lower `zorder`.

  • x
    Parent: data[type=scatter]
    Type: data array

    Sets the x coordinates.

  • x0
    Parent: data[type=scatter]
    Type: number or categorical coordinate string
    Default: 0

    Alternate to `x`. Builds a linear space of x coordinates. Use with `dx` where `x0` is the starting coordinate and `dx` the step.

  • dx
    Parent: data[type=scatter]
    Type: number
    Default: 1

    Sets the x coordinate step. See `x0` for more info.

  • y
    Parent: data[type=scatter]
    Type: data array

    Sets the y coordinates.

  • y0
    Parent: data[type=scatter]
    Type: number or categorical coordinate string
    Default: 0

    Alternate to `y`. Builds a linear space of y coordinates. Use with `dy` where `y0` is the starting coordinate and `dy` the step.

  • dy
    Parent: data[type=scatter]
    Type: number
    Default: 1

    Sets the y coordinate step. See `y0` for more info.

  • text
    Parent: data[type=scatter]
    Type: string or array of strings
    Default: ""

    Sets text elements associated with each (x,y) pair. If a single string, the same string appears over all the data points. If an array of string, the items are mapped in order to the this trace's (x,y) coordinates. If trace `hoverinfo` contains a "text" flag and "hovertext" is not set, these elements will be seen in the hover labels.

  • textposition
    Parent: data[type=scatter]
    Type: enumerated or array of enumerateds , one of ( "top left" | "top center" | "top right" | "middle left" | "middle center" | "middle right" | "bottom left" | "bottom center" | "bottom right" )
    Default: "middle center"

    Sets the positions of the `text` elements with respects to the (x,y) coordinates.

  • texttemplate
    Parent: data[type=scatter]
    Type: string or array of strings
    Default: ""

    Template string used for rendering the information text that appears on points. Note that this will override `textinfo`. Variables are inserted using %{variable}, for example "y: %{y}". Numbers are formatted using d3-format's syntax %{variable:d3-format}, for example "Price: %{y:$.2f}". https://github.com/d3/d3-format/tree/v1.4.5#d3-format for details on the formatting syntax. Dates are formatted using d3-time-format's syntax %{variable|d3-time-format}, for example "Day: %{2019-01-01|%A}". https://github.com/d3/d3-time-format/tree/v2.2.3#locale_format for details on the date formatting syntax. Variables that can't be found will be replaced with the specifier. For example, a template of "data: %{x}, %{y}" will result in a value of "data: 1, %{y}" if x is 1 and y is missing. Variables with an undefined value will be replaced with the fallback value. All attributes that can be specified per-point (the ones that are `arrayOk: true`) are available.

  • texttemplatefallback
    Parent: data[type=scatter]
    Type: number or categorical coordinate string
    Default: -

    Fallback string that's displayed when a variable referenced in a template is missing. If the boolean value 'false' is passed in, the specifier with the missing variable will be displayed.

  • hovertext
    Parent: data[type=scatter]
    Type: string or array of strings
    Default: ""

    Sets hover text elements associated with each (x,y) pair. If a single string, the same string appears over all the data points. If an array of string, the items are mapped in order to the this trace's (x,y) coordinates. To be seen, trace `hoverinfo` must contain a "text" flag.

  • hoverinfo
    Parent: data[type=scatter]
    Type: flaglist string. Any combination of "x", "y", "z", "text", "name" joined with a "+" OR "all" or "none" or "skip".
    Examples: "x", "y", "x+y", "x+y+z", "all"
    Default: "all"

    Determines what trace information appears on hover. If `none` or `skip` are set, no information is displayed upon hovering. But, if `none` is set, click and hover events are still fired.

  • hovertemplate
    Parent: data[type=scatter]
    Type: string or array of strings
    Default: ""

    Template string used for rendering the information that appear on hover box. Note that this will override `hoverinfo`. Variables are inserted using %{variable}, for example "y: %{y}" as well as %{xother}, {%_xother}, {%_xother_}, {%xother_}. When showing info for several points, "xother" will be added to those with different x positions from the first point. An underscore before or after "(x|y)other" will add a space on that side, only when this field is shown. Numbers are formatted using d3-format's syntax %{variable:d3-format}, for example "Price: %{y:$.2f}". https://github.com/d3/d3-format/tree/v1.4.5#d3-format for details on the formatting syntax. Dates are formatted using d3-time-format's syntax %{variable|d3-time-format}, for example "Day: %{2019-01-01|%A}". https://github.com/d3/d3-time-format/tree/v2.2.3#locale_format for details on the date formatting syntax. Variables that can't be found will be replaced with the specifier. For example, a template of "data: %{x}, %{y}" will result in a value of "data: 1, %{y}" if x is 1 and y is missing. Variables with an undefined value will be replaced with the fallback value. The variables available in `hovertemplate` are the ones emitted as event data described at this link https://plotly.com/javascript/plotlyjs-events/#event-data. Additionally, all attributes that can be specified per-point (the ones that are `arrayOk: true`) are available. Anything contained in tag `<extra>` is displayed in the secondary box, for example `<extra>%{fullData.name}</extra>`. To hide the secondary box completely, use an empty tag `<extra></extra>`.

  • hovertemplatefallback
    Parent: data[type=scatter]
    Type: number or categorical coordinate string
    Default: -

    Fallback string that's displayed when a variable referenced in a template is missing. If the boolean value 'false' is passed in, the specifier with the missing variable will be displayed.

  • xhoverformat
    Parent: data[type=scatter]
    Type: string
    Default: ""

    Sets the hover text formatting rule for `x` using d3 formatting mini-languages which are very similar to those in Python. For numbers, see: https://github.com/d3/d3-format/tree/v1.4.5#d3-format. And for dates see: https://github.com/d3/d3-time-format/tree/v2.2.3#locale_format. We add two items to d3's date formatter: "%h" for half of the year as a decimal number as well as "%{n}f" for fractional seconds with n digits. For example, "2016-10-13 09:15:23.456" with tickformat "%H~%M~%S.%2f" would display "09~15~23.46"By default the values are formatted using `xaxis.hoverformat`.

  • yhoverformat
    Parent: data[type=scatter]
    Type: string
    Default: ""

    Sets the hover text formatting rule for `y` using d3 formatting mini-languages which are very similar to those in Python. For numbers, see: https://github.com/d3/d3-format/tree/v1.4.5#d3-format. And for dates see: https://github.com/d3/d3-time-format/tree/v2.2.3#locale_format. We add two items to d3's date formatter: "%h" for half of the year as a decimal number as well as "%{n}f" for fractional seconds with n digits. For example, "2016-10-13 09:15:23.456" with tickformat "%H~%M~%S.%2f" would display "09~15~23.46"By default the values are formatted using `yaxis.hoverformat`.

  • meta
    Parent: data[type=scatter]
    Type: number or categorical coordinate string

    Assigns extra meta information associated with this trace that can be used in various text attributes. Attributes such as trace `name`, graph, axis and colorbar `title.text`, annotation `text` `rangeselector`, `updatemenues` and `sliders` `label` text all support `meta`. To access the trace `meta` values in an attribute in the same trace, simply use `%{meta[i]}` where `i` is the index or key of the `meta` item in question. To access trace `meta` in layout attributes, use `%{data[n[.meta[i]}` where `i` is the index or key of the `meta` and `n` is the trace index.

  • customdata
    Parent: data[type=scatter]
    Type: data array

    Assigns extra data each datum. This may be useful when listening to hover, click and selection events. Note that, "scatter" traces also appends customdata items in the markers DOM elements

  • xaxis
    Parent: data[type=scatter]
    Type: subplotid
    Default: x

    Sets a reference between this trace's x coordinates and a 2D cartesian x axis. If "x" (the default value), the x coordinates refer to `layout.xaxis`. If "x2", the x coordinates refer to `layout.xaxis2`, and so on.

  • yaxis
    Parent: data[type=scatter]
    Type: subplotid
    Default: y

    Sets a reference between this trace's y coordinates and a 2D cartesian y axis. If "y" (the default value), the y coordinates refer to `layout.yaxis`. If "y2", the y coordinates refer to `layout.yaxis2`, and so on.

  • orientation
    Parent: data[type=scatter]
    Type: enumerated , one of ( "v" | "h" )

    Only relevant in the following cases: 1. when `scattermode` is set to "group". 2. when `stackgroup` is used, and only the first `orientation` found in the `stackgroup` will be used - including if `visible` is "legendonly" but not if it is `false`. Sets the stacking direction. With "v" ("h"), the y (x) values of subsequent traces are added. Also affects the default value of `fill`.

  • groupnorm
    Parent: data[type=scatter]
    Type: enumerated , one of ( "" | "fraction" | "percent" )
    Default: ""

    Only relevant when `stackgroup` is used, and only the first `groupnorm` found in the `stackgroup` will be used - including if `visible` is "legendonly" but not if it is `false`. Sets the normalization for the sum of this `stackgroup`. With "fraction", the value of each trace at each location is divided by the sum of all trace values at that location. "percent" is the same but multiplied by 100 to show percentages. If there are multiple subplots, or multiple `stackgroup`s on one subplot, each will be normalized within its own set.

  • alignmentgroup
    Parent: data[type=scatter]
    Type: string
    Default: ""

    Set several traces linked to the same position axis or matching axes to the same alignmentgroup. This controls whether bars compute their positional range dependently or independently.

  • offsetgroup
    Parent: data[type=scatter]
    Type: string
    Default: ""

    Set several traces linked to the same position axis or matching axes to the same offsetgroup where bars of the same position coordinate will line up.

  • stackgroup
    Parent: data[type=scatter]
    Type: string
    Default: ""

    Set several scatter traces (on the same subplot) to the same stackgroup in order to add their y values (or their x values if `orientation` is "h"). If blank or omitted this trace will not be stacked. Stacking also turns `fill` on by default, using "tonexty" ("tonextx") if `orientation` is "h" ("v") and sets the default `mode` to "lines" irrespective of point count. You can only stack on a numeric (linear or log) axis. Traces in a `stackgroup` will only fill to (or be filled to) other traces in the same group. With multiple `stackgroup`s or some traces stacked and some not, if fill-linked traces are not already consecutive, the later ones will be pushed down in the drawing order.

  • xperiod
    Parent: data[type=scatter]
    Type: number or categorical coordinate string
    Default: 0

    Only relevant when the axis `type` is "date". Sets the period positioning in milliseconds or "M<n>" on the x axis. Special values in the form of "M<n>" could be used to declare the number of months. In this case `n` must be a positive integer.

  • xperiodalignment
    Parent: data[type=scatter]
    Type: enumerated , one of ( "start" | "middle" | "end" )
    Default: "middle"

    Only relevant when the axis `type` is "date". Sets the alignment of data points on the x axis.

  • xperiod0
    Parent: data[type=scatter]
    Type: number or categorical coordinate string

    Only relevant when the axis `type` is "date". Sets the base for period positioning in milliseconds or date string on the x0 axis. When `x0period` is round number of weeks, the `x0period0` by default would be on a Sunday i.e. 2000-01-02, otherwise it would be at 2000-01-01.

  • yperiod
    Parent: data[type=scatter]
    Type: number or categorical coordinate string
    Default: 0

    Only relevant when the axis `type` is "date". Sets the period positioning in milliseconds or "M<n>" on the y axis. Special values in the form of "M<n>" could be used to declare the number of months. In this case `n` must be a positive integer.

  • yperiodalignment
    Parent: data[type=scatter]
    Type: enumerated , one of ( "start" | "middle" | "end" )
    Default: "middle"

    Only relevant when the axis `type` is "date". Sets the alignment of data points on the y axis.

  • yperiod0
    Parent: data[type=scatter]
    Type: number or categorical coordinate string

    Only relevant when the axis `type` is "date". Sets the base for period positioning in milliseconds or date string on the y0 axis. When `y0period` is round number of weeks, the `y0period0` by default would be on a Sunday i.e. 2000-01-02, otherwise it would be at 2000-01-01.

  • marker
    Parent: data[type=scatter]
    Type: object containing one or more of the keys listed below.
    • angle
      Parent: data[type=scatter].marker
      Type: angle
      Default: 0

      Sets the marker angle in respect to `angleref`.

    • angleref
      Parent: data[type=scatter].marker
      Type: enumerated , one of ( "previous" | "up" )
      Default: "up"

      Sets the reference for marker angle. With "previous", angle 0 points along the line from the previous point to this one. With "up", angle 0 points toward the top of the screen.

    • autocolorscale
      Parent: data[type=scatter].marker
      Type: boolean
      Default: true

      Determines whether the colorscale is a default palette (`autocolorscale: true`) or the palette determined by `marker.colorscale`. Has an effect only if in `marker.color` is set to a numerical array. In case `colorscale` is unspecified or `autocolorscale` is true, the default palette will be chosen according to whether numbers in the `color` array are all positive, all negative or mixed.

    • cauto
      Parent: data[type=scatter].marker
      Type: boolean
      Default: true

      Determines whether or not the color domain is computed with respect to the input data (here in `marker.color`) or the bounds set in `marker.cmin` and `marker.cmax` Has an effect only if in `marker.color` is set to a numerical array. Defaults to `false` when `marker.cmin` and `marker.cmax` are set by the user.

    • cmax
      Parent: data[type=scatter].marker
      Type: number

      Sets the upper bound of the color domain. Has an effect only if in `marker.color` is set to a numerical array. Value should have the same units as in `marker.color` and if set, `marker.cmin` must be set as well.

    • cmid
      Parent: data[type=scatter].marker
      Type: number

      Sets the mid-point of the color domain by scaling `marker.cmin` and/or `marker.cmax` to be equidistant to this point. Has an effect only if in `marker.color` is set to a numerical array. Value should have the same units as in `marker.color`. Has no effect when `marker.cauto` is `false`.

    • cmin
      Parent: data[type=scatter].marker
      Type: number

      Sets the lower bound of the color domain. Has an effect only if in `marker.color` is set to a numerical array. Value should have the same units as in `marker.color` and if set, `marker.cmax` must be set as well.

    • color
      Parent: data[type=scatter].marker
      Type: color or array of colors

      Sets the marker color. It accepts either a specific color or an array of numbers that are mapped to the colorscale relative to the max and min values of the array or relative to `marker.cmin` and `marker.cmax` if set.

    • coloraxis
      Parent: data[type=scatter].marker
      Type: subplotid

      Sets a reference to a shared color axis. References to these shared color axes are "coloraxis", "coloraxis2", "coloraxis3", etc. Settings for these shared color axes are set in the layout, under `layout.coloraxis`, `layout.coloraxis2`, etc. Note that multiple color scales can be linked to the same color axis.

    • colorbar
      Parent: data[type=scatter].marker
      Type: object containing one or more of the keys listed below.
      • bgcolor
        Parent: data[type=scatter].marker.colorbar
        Type: color
        Default: "rgba(0,0,0,0)"

        Sets the color of padded area.

      • bordercolor
        Parent: data[type=scatter].marker.colorbar
        Type: color
        Default: "#444"

        Sets the axis line color.

      • borderwidth
        Parent: data[type=scatter].marker.colorbar
        Type: number greater than or equal to 0
        Default: 0

        Sets the width (in px) or the border enclosing this color bar.

      • dtick
        Parent: data[type=scatter].marker.colorbar
        Type: number or categorical coordinate string

        Sets the step in-between ticks on this axis. Use with `tick0`. Must be a positive number, or special strings available to "log" and "date" axes. If the axis `type` is "log", then ticks are set every 10^(n"dtick) where n is the tick number. For example, to set a tick mark at 1, 10, 100, 1000, ... set dtick to 1. To set tick marks at 1, 100, 10000, ... set dtick to 2. To set tick marks at 1, 5, 25, 125, 625, 3125, ... set dtick to log_10(5), or 0.69897000433. "log" has several special values; "L<f>", where `f` is a positive number, gives ticks linearly spaced in value (but not position). For example `tick0` = 0.1, `dtick` = "L0.5" will put ticks at 0.1, 0.6, 1.1, 1.6 etc. To show powers of 10 plus small digits between, use "D1" (all digits) or "D2" (only 2 and 5). `tick0` is ignored for "D1" and "D2". If the axis `type` is "date", then you must convert the time to milliseconds. For example, to set the interval between ticks to one day, set `dtick` to 86400000.0. "date" also has special values "M<n>" gives ticks spaced by a number of months. `n` must be a positive integer. To set ticks on the 15th of every third month, set `tick0` to "2000-01-15" and `dtick` to "M3". To set ticks every 4 years, set `dtick` to "M48"

      • exponentformat
        Parent: data[type=scatter].marker.colorbar
        Type: enumerated , one of ( "none" | "e" | "E" | "power" | "SI" | "B" | "SI extended" )