How to remove the label on the left side in matplotlib.pyplot pie charts?

To remove the label on the left side in a matplotlib pie chart, we can use plt.ylabel("") with a blank string. This removes the default y-axis label that matplotlib automatically adds to pie charts.

Steps to Remove Left Side Label

• Create data for the pie chart (values, labels, colors)

• Plot a pie chart using pie() method

• Use plt.ylabel("") to hide the left side label

Example

Here's how to create a pie chart without the left side label ?

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

plt.rcParams["figure.figsize"] = [7.00, 3.50]
plt.rcParams["figure.autolayout"] = True

hours = [8, 1, 11, 4]
activities = ['sleeping', 'exercise', 'studying', 'working']
colors = ["grey", "green", "orange", "blue"]

plt.pie(hours, labels=activities, colors=colors, autopct="%.2f")
plt.ylabel("")  # Remove the left side label
plt.show()

Alternative Method Using axis Parameter

You can also remove the y-axis label by setting it to None ?

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

hours = [8, 1, 11, 4]
activities = ['sleeping', 'exercise', 'studying', 'working']
colors = ["grey", "green", "orange", "blue"]

fig, ax = plt.subplots()
ax.pie(hours, labels=activities, colors=colors, autopct="%.2f")
ax.set_ylabel("")  # Remove y-axis label using axes method
plt.show()

Key Points

• plt.ylabel("") sets an empty string as the y-axis label

• ax.set_ylabel("") works when using subplot approach

• Both methods effectively hide the default label on the left side

• The pie chart functionality remains unchanged, only the label is hidden

Conclusion

Use plt.ylabel("") to remove the left side label in matplotlib pie charts. This simple method eliminates unwanted axis labels while preserving the chart's appearance and functionality.