python - How to draw grid lines behind matplotlib bar graph

Question

x = ['01-02', '02-02', '03-02', '04-02', '05-02']
y = [2, 2, 3, 7, 2]

fig, ax = plt.subplots(1, 1)
ax.bar(range(len(y)), y, width=0.3,align='center',color='skyblue')
plt.xticks(range(len(y)), x, size='small')
plt.savefig('/home/user/graphimages/foo2.png')
plt.close()

I want to draw grid lines (of x & y) behind the bar graph.

Answer 1

To add a grid you simply need to add

ax.grid()

If you want the grid to be behind the bars then add

ax.grid(zorder=0)
ax.bar(range(len(y)), y, width=0.3, align='center', color='skyblue', zorder=3)

The important part is that the zorder of the bars is greater than grid. Experimenting it seems zorder=3 is the lowest value that actually gives the desired effect. I have no idea why zorder=1 isn't sufficient.

EDIT: I have noticed this question has already been answered here using a different method although it suffers some link rot. Both methods yield the same result as far as I can see but andrew cooke's answer is more elegant.