# Make a legend for specific lines. import matplotlib.pyplot as plt import numpy as np t1 = np.arange(0.0, 2.0, 0.1) t2 = np.arange(0.0, 2.0, 0.01) # note that plot returns a list of lines. The "l1, = plot" usage # extracts the first element of the list into l1 using tuple # unpacking. So l1 is a Line2D instance, not a sequence of lines l1, = plt.plot(t2, np.exp(-t2)) l2, l3 = plt.plot(t2, np.sin(2 * np.pi * t2), '--go', t1, np.log(1 + t1), '.') l4, = plt.plot(t2, np.exp(-t2) * np.sin(2 * np.pi * t2), 'rs-.') plt.legend( (l2, l4), ('oscillatory', 'damped'), loc='upper right', shadow=True) plt.xlabel('time') plt.ylabel('volts') plt.title('Damped oscillation') plt.show()