From 84148ab721450a45c0e390409d2c5fbe4e6cb071 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Hashim Abdul <hashim@umich.edu>
Date: Tue, 2 Mar 2021 08:53:42 -0500
Subject: [PATCH 1/2] template to handle strings on x axis w/ legend

bool named_plot(const std::string& name, const std::vector<std::string>& x, const std::vector<Numeric>& y, const std::string& format = "") { .. }

added template to be able to have named legend plotting: ex: time(x) vs signal(y) with legend.
Prior to this change, the current library implements simple plots with no legends and with this change the above should be possible.
---
 matplotlibcpp.h | 27 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 27 insertions(+)

diff --git a/matplotlibcpp.h b/matplotlibcpp.h
index 93a72be5..f8858c9a 100644
--- a/matplotlibcpp.h
+++ b/matplotlibcpp.h
@@ -1394,6 +1394,33 @@ bool named_plot(const std::string& name, const std::vector<Numeric>& x, const st
     return res;
 }
 
+template<typename Numeric>
+bool named_plot(const std::string& name, const std::vector<std::string>& x, const std::vector<Numeric>& y, const std::string& format = "")
+{
+    detail::_interpreter::get();
+
+    PyObject* kwargs = PyDict_New();
+    PyDict_SetItemString(kwargs, "label", PyString_FromString(name.c_str()));
+
+    PyObject* xarray = detail::get_array(x);
+    PyObject* yarray = detail::get_array(y);
+
+    PyObject* pystring = PyString_FromString(format.c_str());
+
+    PyObject* plot_args = PyTuple_New(3);
+    PyTuple_SetItem(plot_args, 0, xarray);
+    PyTuple_SetItem(plot_args, 1, yarray);
+    PyTuple_SetItem(plot_args, 2, pystring);
+
+    PyObject* res = PyObject_Call(detail::_interpreter::get().s_python_function_plot, plot_args, kwargs);
+
+    Py_DECREF(kwargs);
+    Py_DECREF(plot_args);
+    if (res) Py_DECREF(res);
+
+    return res;
+}
+
 template<typename Numeric>
 bool named_semilogx(const std::string& name, const std::vector<Numeric>& x, const std::vector<Numeric>& y, const std::string& format = "")
 {

From 9eb18b069dc35249b160474b788016445676993a Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Hashim Abdul <hashim.abdul@visteon.com>
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 2026 13:43:16 -0400
Subject: [PATCH 2/2] Add string x-axis named_plot example and docs note

---
 README.md                            | 25 +++++++++++++++++++++++++
 examples/string_xaxis_named_plot.cpp | 25 +++++++++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 50 insertions(+)
 create mode 100644 examples/string_xaxis_named_plot.cpp

diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 0f8479f1..278a87dc 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -65,6 +65,31 @@ int main()
 
 ![Basic example](./examples/basic.png)
 
+String x-axis labels with legend:
+```cpp
+#include "../matplotlibcpp.h"
+#include <string>
+#include <vector>
+
+namespace plt = matplotlibcpp;
+
+int main()
+{
+    std::vector<std::string> x = {"Jan 2021", "Feb 2021", "Mar 2021"};
+    std::vector<double> y = {58.4, 61.2, 63.9};
+
+    plt::named_plot("Vehicle speed (max)", x, y, "o-");
+    plt::legend();
+    plt::save("./string_xaxis_named_plot.png");
+}
+```
+    g++ examples/string_xaxis_named_plot.cpp -std=c++11 -I. -I/usr/include/python2.7 -lpython2.7
+
+Expected behavior and constraints:
+- `x` is a `std::vector<std::string>` and `y` is numeric with matching length.
+- String labels are mapped as categorical x values by matplotlib.
+- Use `plt::save(...)` for headless runs or `plt::show()` for interactive runs.
+
 Alternatively, matplotlib-cpp also supports some C++11-powered syntactic sugar:
 ```cpp
 #include <cmath>
diff --git a/examples/string_xaxis_named_plot.cpp b/examples/string_xaxis_named_plot.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..6a1d80b0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/string_xaxis_named_plot.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+#include "../matplotlibcpp.h"
+#include <string>
+#include <vector>
+
+namespace plt = matplotlibcpp;
+
+int main()
+{
+    const std::vector<std::string> months = {
+        "Jan 2021", "Feb 2021", "Mar 2021", "Apr 2021", "May 2021"
+    };
+    const std::vector<double> speed_kmh = {58.4, 61.2, 63.9, 62.1, 65.0};
+
+    plt::figure_size(900, 500);
+    plt::named_plot("Vehicle speed (max)", months, speed_kmh, "o-");
+    plt::title("Monthly peak speed");
+    plt::xlabel("Month");
+    plt::ylabel("Speed (km/h)");
+    plt::legend();
+    plt::tight_layout();
+
+    // Use save() for CI/headless usage; replace with show() for interactive runs.
+    plt::save("./string_xaxis_named_plot.png");
+    return 0;
+}