Sensible numeric time and date tick labels for Matplotlib

Matplotlib's default time tick labels are often poor, and adjusting them requires using locators and formatters on an ad-hoc basis. In addition, the interfaces for locators and formatters complex and non-intuitive and require study and experimentation.

datetick() contains logic for locators and formatters that apply to plots with arbitrary time ranges. One only needs to add the command datetick() after the usual Matplotlib plt.plot(...) command to have sensible and useable time tick labels.

import datetime as dt
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from datetick import datetick

dt1 = dt.datetime(2011, 1, 2)
dt2 = dt1 + dt.timedelta(days=1, hours=1, minutes=1)

plt.plot([dt1, dt2], [0.0,1.0])
datetick()
plt.show()
# or
# datetick('x') (use 'y' if y variable is a time)
# or
# datetick('x', axes=plt.gca())
# or
# fig, axes = plt.subplots(2)
# plt.plot([dt1, dt2], [0.0, 1.0])
# datetick('x', axes=axes[0])