Unambiguous abbreviations of x-labels in histogram

bashplotlib/histogram.py

@@ -182,11 +182,12 @@ def plot_hist(f, height=20.0, bincount=None, binwidth=None, pch="o", colour="def
  print(" " * (nlen + 1) + "-" * len(xs))
 
  if xlab:
- xlen = len(str(float((max_y) / height) + max_y))
+ labels = abbreviate([str(b) for b in bins])
+ xlen = len(labels[0])
  for i in range(0, xlen):
  printcolour(" " * (nlen + 1), True, colour)
  for x in range(0, len(hist)):
- num = str(bins[x])
+ num = labels[x]
  if x % 2 != 0:
  pass
  elif i < len(num):

bashplotlib/utils/helpers.py

@@ -64,6 +64,18 @@ def drange(start, stop, step=1.0, include_stop=False):
  r = round(r, 10)
 
 
+def abbreviate(labels, rfill=' '):
+ """
+ Abbreviate labels without introducing ambiguities.
+ """
+ max_len = max(len(l) for l in labels)
+ for i in range(1, max_len):
+ abbrev = [l[:i].ljust(i, rfill) for l in labels]
+ if len(abbrev) == len(set(abbrev)):
+ break
+ return abbrev
+
+
 def box_text(text, width, offset=0):
  """
  Return text inside an ascii textbox

examples/sample.sh

@@ -22,6 +22,9 @@ hist --file "${dir}/data/exp.txt" --colour blue
 echo 'changing the shape of the point'
 hist --file "${dir}/data/exp.txt" --pch .
 
+echo 'adding x-labels'
+hist --file "${dir}/data/exp.txt" --pch . --xlab
+
 #echo 'using stdin'
 #curl -sL https://dl.dropbox.com/u/49171662/example.txt | hist