color parameter isn't changing the plot color

Question

Following is the code that doesn't work.

import numpy as np
import pandas as pd
import seaborn as sns

sns.displot(pd.DataFrame(res), color='red', edgecolor=None, binwidth=.5, binrange=(3, 18+1));

res is a list type.

I was expecting the bars to be red, but they are the default color.

I had no problem before with this code.

Answer 1

• The correct approach to setting the color of a single group, depends on how, or if, data= is specified, and if x=, or y=, is specified.
• The same issue applies to g = sns.histplot(data=df, color='r', legend=False), as shown in this plot.
  • The following implementations also apply to histplot.
• See How to modify the kernel density estimate line in a sns.histplot for changing the line color for kde=True.
• Tested in python 3.11.3, matplotlib 3.7.1, seaborn 0.12.2

Imports and Data

import numpy as np
import seaborn as sns

# random normal data as a list
np.random.seed(2023)
res = np.random.normal(loc=75, scale=5, size=1000).tolist()

# create a dataframe
df = pd.DataFrame(res)

# df.head() - the column header is the number 0, not string '0'

           0
0  78.558368
1  73.377575
2  69.990647
3  76.181254
4  74.489201

Plot Implementation

• Pass df, and do not specify a column name for x=, requires passing a dict or a list to palette.
  • palette will also accept a string, but the string must be a valid palette name, ValueError: 'r' is not a valid palette name
• The color saturation is different when using palette, compared to color, so pass alpha= (number 0 - 1) to adjust as needed.

g = sns.displot(data=df, palette={0: 'r'})  # from v0.13.0 this does not work, because hue must also be specified
g = sns.displot(data=df, palette=['r'])  # from v0.13.0 this does not work, because hue must also be specified

• Pass df, and specify a column name for x=

g = sns.displot(data=df, x=0, color='r')

• Pass the column to x=

g = sns.displot(x=df[0], color='r')

• Pass res directly to data=

g = sns.displot(data=res, color='r')

• Pass res directly to x=

g = sns.displot(x=res, color='r')