def plot_bars(bar_list, tick_labels, tick_positions=None, x_label='', y_label='', title='', legend_names=[], loc=2):
# plot values
fig = plt.figure()
fig.suptitle(title)
ax = Subplot(fig, 111)
ax = fig.add_subplot(ax)
plt.ylabel(y_label)
plt.xlabel(x_label)
# plot each dataset
width = .9/len(bar_list) # the width of the bars
ind = np.array(range(len(bar_list[0])))
color_list = ['#a6cee3', '#1f78b4', '#b2df8a', '#33a02c', '#fb9a99', '#e31a1c', '#fdbf6f', '#ff7f00', '#cab2d6', '#6a3d9a', '#ffff99', '#b15928']
recs = []
for i in range(len(bar_list)):
recs.append(ax.bar(ind + (width * i), bar_list[i], width, color=color_list[i], linewidth=0))
# calculate where the labels should go
if tick_positions is not None:
ax.set_xticks(np.array(tick_positions) + .5)
else:
ax.set_xticks(ind + .5)
xtickNames = ax.set_xticklabels(tick_labels)
# adjust how the axis shows
ax.axis["bottom"].major_ticklabels.set_pad(30)
ax.axis["bottom"].label.set_pad(20)
ax.axis["bottom"].major_ticklabels.set_rotation(30)
ax.axis["bottom"].major_ticks.set_visible(False)
ax.axis["top"].set_visible(False)
# add a legend
if len(legend_names) == len(recs):
legend_names = tuple([ln.title() for ln in legend_names])
legend_colors = tuple(r[0] for r in recs)
ax.legend( legend_colors, legend_names, frameon=False, loc=loc )
plt.gcf().subplots_adjust(bottom=0.19) # adjust the bottom of the plot
plt.show()
