Polt

Live data visualisation via Matplotlib

polt is a Python package for live data visualisation via Matplotlib.

What can polt do?

Reading Numbers from STDIN

polt generate -c walk --max-rate 20 | polt live

Reading CSV from STDIN

polt generate \
     -c "sensor1_temperature_celsius=uniform(20,25)" \
     -c "sensor1_pressure_hPa=uniform(990,1020)" \
     -c "sensor2_pressure_hPa=uniform(990,1020)" \
     -c "sensor3_humidity_percent=uniform(10,90)" \
     -c "sensor3_temperature_kelvin=uniform(0,300)" \
     --max-rate 5 \
     | polt \
         add-source -p csv -o name=Data -o header-regex=key-quantity-unit \
         live -o extrapolate=yes -o subplots-for=unit

Reading Live Data from Logfiles

Imagine you have a file data.txt where another process constantly writes lines of numbers into. polt can then use the common tail program to watch that data:

polt add-source -c "tail -fn0 data.txt" live

Configuration Files

polt can use configuration files (by default ~/.config/polt/polt.conf and .polt.conf in the current directory) to simplify invocation. It is also possible to read and save the current configuration with the polt config command.

Easy to Customize

It is easy to extend polt with your own data parsers, filters or animation routines. Check the documentation for further information.

Why on Earth is it called polt and not plot!?

I am a big fan of swapping syllables or characters around resulting in ridiculously-sounding words. polt is one of those words which I am generating quite frequently when typing quickly.

Installation

The polt package is best installed via pip. Run from anywhere:

python3 -m pip install --user polt

This downloads and installs the package from the Python Package Index.

You may also install polt from the repository root:

python3 -m pip install --user .

Translations

Currently, the following languages are available:

• English
• German

If you are interested in adding another language, just open a New Issue and we will get you going.

Documentation

Documentation of the polt package can be found here on GitLab.

Also, the command-line help page polt -h is your friend.