Add font feature API to FontProperties and Text

QuLogic · QuLogic · commit b04a2f1b690d · 2025-08-26T20:58:53.000-04:00
Font features allow font designers to provide alternate glyphs or shaping within a single font. These features may be accessed via special tags corresponding to internal tables of glyphs. The mplcairo backend supports font features via an elaborate re-use of the font file path [1]. This commit adds the API to make this officially supported in the main user API. At this time, nothing in Matplotlib itself uses these settings, but they will have an effect with libraqm. [1] https://github.com/matplotlib/mplcairo/blob/v0.6.1/README.rst#font-formats-and-features
diff --git a/doc/release/next_whats_new/font_features.rst b/doc/release/next_whats_new/font_features.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+Specifying font feature tags
+----------------------------
+
+OpenType fonts may support feature tags that specify alternate glyph shapes or
+substitutions to be made optionally. The text API now supports setting a list of feature
+tags to be used with the associated font. Feature tags can be set/get with:
+
+- `matplotlib.text.Text.set_fontfeatures` / `matplotlib.text.Text.get_fontfeatures`
+- Any API that creates a `.Text` object by passing the *fontfeatures* argument (e.g.,
+  ``plt.xlabel(..., fontfeatures=...)``)
+
+Font feature strings are eventually passed to HarfBuzz, and so all `string formats
+supported by hb_feature_from_string()
+<https://harfbuzz.github.io/harfbuzz-hb-common.html#hb-feature-from-string>`__ are
+supported. Note though that subranges are not explicitly supported and behaviour may
+change in the future.
+
+For example, the default font ``DejaVu Sans`` enables Standard Ligatures (the ``'liga'``
+tag) by default, and also provides optional Discretionary Ligatures (the ``dlig`` tag.)
+These may be toggled with ``+`` or ``-``.
+
+.. plot::
+    :include-source:
+
+    fig = plt.figure(figsize=(7, 3))
+
+    fig.text(0.5, 0.85, 'Ligatures', fontsize=40, horizontalalignment='center')
+
+    # Default has Standard Ligatures (liga).
+    fig.text(0, 0.6, 'Default: fi ffi fl st', fontsize=40)
+
+    # Disable Standard Ligatures with -liga.
+    fig.text(0, 0.35, 'Disabled: fi ffi fl st', fontsize=40,
+             fontfeatures=['-liga'])
+
+    # Enable Discretionary Ligatures with dlig.
+    fig.text(0, 0.1, 'Discretionary: fi ffi fl st', fontsize=40,
+             fontfeatures=['dlig'])
+
+Available font feature tags may be found at
+https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/typography/opentype/spec/featurelist
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/_text_helpers.py b/lib/matplotlib/_text_helpers.py
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ def warn_on_missing_glyph(codepoint, fontnames):
         f"missing from font(s) {fontnames}.")
 
 
-def layout(string, font, *, kern_mode=Kerning.DEFAULT, language=None):
+def layout(string, font, *, features=None, kern_mode=Kerning.DEFAULT, language=None):
     """
     Render *string* with *font*.
 
@@ -39,6 +39,8 @@ def layout(string, font, *, kern_mode=Kerning.DEFAULT, language=None):
         The string to be rendered.
     font : FT2Font
         The font.
+    features : tuple of str, optional
+        The font features to apply to the text.
     kern_mode : Kerning
         A FreeType kerning mode.
     language : str, optional
@@ -51,7 +53,7 @@ def layout(string, font, *, kern_mode=Kerning.DEFAULT, language=None):
     """
     x = 0
     prev_glyph_idx = None
-    char_to_font = font._get_fontmap(string)  # TODO: Pass in language.
+    char_to_font = font._get_fontmap(string)  # TODO: Pass in features and language.
     base_font = font
     for char in string:
         # This has done the fallback logic
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_agg.py b/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_agg.py
@@ -191,6 +191,7 @@ def draw_text(self, gc, x, y, s, prop, angle, ismath=False, mtext=None):
         # We pass '0' for angle here, since it will be rotated (in raster
         # space) in the following call to draw_text_image).
         font.set_text(s, 0, flags=get_hinting_flag(),
+                      features=mtext.get_fontfeatures() if mtext is not None else None,
                       language=mtext.get_language() if mtext is not None else None)
         font.draw_glyphs_to_bitmap(
             antialiased=gc.get_antialiased())
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_pdf.py b/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_pdf.py
@@ -2345,7 +2345,11 @@ def draw_text(self, gc, x, y, s, prop, angle, ismath=False, mtext=None):
             return self.draw_mathtext(gc, x, y, s, prop, angle)
 
         fontsize = prop.get_size_in_points()
-        language = mtext.get_language() if mtext is not None else None
+        if mtext is not None:
+            features = mtext.get_fontfeatures()
+            language = mtext.get_language()
+        else:
+            features = language = None
 
         if mpl.rcParams['pdf.use14corefonts']:
             font = self._get_font_afm(prop)
@@ -2356,7 +2360,7 @@ def draw_text(self, gc, x, y, s, prop, angle, ismath=False, mtext=None):
             fonttype = mpl.rcParams['pdf.fonttype']
 
         if gc.get_url() is not None:
-            font.set_text(s, language=language)
+            font.set_text(s, features=features, language=language)
             width, height = font.get_width_height()
             self.file._annotations[-1][1].append(_get_link_annotation(
                 gc, x, y, width / 64, height / 64, angle))
@@ -2390,7 +2394,8 @@ def draw_text(self, gc, x, y, s, prop, angle, ismath=False, mtext=None):
             multibyte_glyphs = []
             prev_was_multibyte = True
             prev_font = font
-            for item in _text_helpers.layout(s, font, kern_mode=Kerning.UNFITTED,
+            for item in _text_helpers.layout(s, font, features=features,
+                                             kern_mode=Kerning.UNFITTED,
                                              language=language):
                 if _font_supports_glyph(fonttype, ord(item.char)):
                     if prev_was_multibyte or item.ft_object != prev_font:
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_ps.py b/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_ps.py
@@ -794,10 +794,15 @@ def draw_text(self, gc, x, y, s, prop, angle, ismath=False, mtext=None):
                 thisx += width * scale
 
         else:
-            language = mtext.get_language() if mtext is not None else None
+            if mtext is not None:
+                features = mtext.get_fontfeatures()
+                language = mtext.get_language()
+            else:
+                features = language = None
             font = self._get_font_ttf(prop)
             self._character_tracker.track(font, s)
-            for item in _text_helpers.layout(s, font, language=language):
+            for item in _text_helpers.layout(s, font, features=features,
+                                             language=language):
                 ps_name = (item.ft_object.postscript_name
                            .encode("ascii", "replace").decode("ascii"))
                 glyph_name = item.ft_object.get_glyph_name(item.glyph_idx)
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/font_manager.py b/lib/matplotlib/font_manager.py
@@ -540,7 +540,7 @@ def afmFontProperty(fontpath, font):
 
 def _cleanup_fontproperties_init(init_method):
     """
-    A decorator to limit the call signature to single a positional argument
+    A decorator to limit the call signature to a single positional argument
     or alternatively only keyword arguments.
 
     We still accept but deprecate all other call signatures.
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/ft2font.pyi b/lib/matplotlib/ft2font.pyi
@@ -248,6 +248,7 @@ class FT2Font(Buffer):
         angle: float = ...,
         flags: LoadFlags = ...,
         *,
+        features: tuple[str] | None = ...,
         language: str | list[tuple[str, int, int]] | None = ...,
     ) -> NDArray[np.float64]: ...
     @property
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/tests/baseline_images/test_text/features.png b/lib/matplotlib/tests/baseline_images/test_text/features.png
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_ft2font.py b/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_ft2font.py
@@ -207,6 +207,19 @@ def test_ft2font_set_size():
     assert font.get_width_height() == tuple(pytest.approx(2 * x, 1e-1) for x in orig)
 
 
+def test_ft2font_features():
+    # Smoke test that these are accepted as intended.
+    file = fm.findfont('DejaVu Sans')
+    font = ft2font.FT2Font(file)
+    font.set_text('foo', features=None)  # unset
+    font.set_text('foo', features=['calt', 'dlig'])  # list
+    font.set_text('foo', features=('calt', 'dlig'))  # tuple
+    with pytest.raises(TypeError):
+        font.set_text('foo', features=123)
+    with pytest.raises(TypeError):
+        font.set_text('foo', features=[123, 456])
+
+
 def test_ft2font_charmaps():
     def enc(name):
         # We don't expose the encoding enum from FreeType, but can generate it here.
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_text.py b/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_text.py
@@ -1204,6 +1204,16 @@ def test_ytick_rotation_mode():
     plt.subplots_adjust(left=0.4, right=0.6, top=.99, bottom=.01)
 
 
+@image_comparison(baseline_images=['features.png'], remove_text=False, style='mpl20')
+def test_text_features():
+    fig = plt.figure(figsize=(5, 1.5))
+    fig.text(0, 0.7, 'Default: fi ffi fl st', fontsize=32)
+    fig.text(0, 0.4, 'Disabled: fi ffi fl st', fontsize=32,
+             fontfeatures=['-liga'])
+    fig.text(0, 0.1, 'Discretionary: fi ffi fl st', fontsize=32,
+             fontfeatures=['dlig'])
+
+
 @pytest.mark.parametrize(
     'input, match',
     [
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/text.py b/lib/matplotlib/text.py
@@ -136,6 +136,7 @@ def __init__(self,
         super().__init__()
         self._x, self._y = x, y
         self._text = ''
+        self._features = None
         self._language = None
         self._reset_visual_defaults(
             text=text,
@@ -848,6 +849,12 @@ def get_fontfamily(self):
         """
         return self._fontproperties.get_family()
 
+    def get_fontfeatures(self):
+        """
+        Return a tuple of font feature tags to enable.
+        """
+        return self._features
+
     def get_fontname(self):
         """
         Return the font name as a string.
@@ -1095,6 +1102,39 @@ def set_fontfamily(self, fontname):
         self._fontproperties.set_family(fontname)
         self.stale = True
 
+    def set_fontfeatures(self, features):
+        """
+        Set the feature tags to enable on the font.
+
+        Parameters
+        ----------
+        features : list of str, or tuple of str, or None
+            A list of feature tags to be used with the associated font. These strings
+            are eventually passed to HarfBuzz, and so all `string formats supported by
+            hb_feature_from_string()
+            <https://harfbuzz.github.io/harfbuzz-hb-common.html#hb-feature-from-string>`__
+            are supported. Note though that subranges are not explicitly supported and
+            behaviour may change in the future.
+
+            For example, if your desired font includes Stylistic Sets which enable
+            various typographic alternates including one that you do not wish to use
+            (e.g., Contextual Ligatures), then you can pass the following to enable one
+            and not the other::
+
+                fp.set_features([
+                    'ss01',  # Use Stylistic Set 1.
+                    '-clig',  # But disable Contextural Ligatures.
+                ])
+
+            Available font feature tags may be found at
+            https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/typography/opentype/spec/featurelist
+        """
+        _api.check_isinstance((list, tuple, None), features=features)
+        if features is not None:
+            features = tuple(features)
+        self._features = features
+        self.stale = True
+
     def set_fontvariant(self, variant):
         """
         Set the font variant.
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/text.pyi b/lib/matplotlib/text.pyi
@@ -56,6 +56,7 @@ class Text(Artist):
     def get_color(self) -> ColorType: ...
     def get_fontproperties(self) -> FontProperties: ...
     def get_fontfamily(self) -> list[str]: ...
+    def get_fontfeatures(self) -> tuple[str, ...] | None: ...
     def get_fontname(self) -> str: ...
     def get_fontstyle(self) -> Literal["normal", "italic", "oblique"]: ...
     def get_fontsize(self) -> float | str: ...
@@ -80,6 +81,7 @@ class Text(Artist):
     def set_multialignment(self, align: Literal["left", "center", "right"]) -> None: ...
     def set_linespacing(self, spacing: float) -> None: ...
     def set_fontfamily(self, fontname: str | Iterable[str]) -> None: ...
+    def set_fontfeatures(self, features: list[str] | tuple[str, ...] | None) -> None: ...
     def set_fontvariant(self, variant: Literal["normal", "small-caps"]) -> None: ...
     def set_fontstyle(
         self, fontstyle: Literal["normal", "italic", "oblique"]
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/textpath.py b/lib/matplotlib/textpath.py
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ def get_text_width_height_descent(self, s, prop, ismath):
         d /= 64.0
         return w * scale, h * scale, d * scale
 
-    def get_text_path(self, prop, s, ismath=False, *, language=None):
+    def get_text_path(self, prop, s, ismath=False, *, features=None, language=None):
         """
         Convert text *s* to path (a tuple of vertices and codes for
         matplotlib.path.Path).
@@ -112,8 +112,8 @@ def get_text_path(self, prop, s, ismath=False, *, language=None):
             glyph_info, glyph_map, rects = self.get_glyphs_tex(prop, s)
         elif not ismath:
             font = self._get_font(prop)
-            glyph_info, glyph_map, rects = self.get_glyphs_with_font(font, s,
-                                                                     language=language)
+            glyph_info, glyph_map, rects = self.get_glyphs_with_font(
+                font, s, features=features, language=language)
         else:
             glyph_info, glyph_map, rects = self.get_glyphs_mathtext(prop, s)
 
@@ -134,7 +134,8 @@ def get_text_path(self, prop, s, ismath=False, *, language=None):
         return verts, codes
 
     def get_glyphs_with_font(self, font, s, glyph_map=None,
-                             return_new_glyphs_only=False, *, language=None):
+                             return_new_glyphs_only=False, *, features=None,
+                             language=None):
         """
         Convert string *s* to vertices and codes using the provided ttf font.
         """
@@ -149,7 +150,7 @@ def get_glyphs_with_font(self, font, s, glyph_map=None,
 
         xpositions = []
         glyph_ids = []
-        for item in _text_helpers.layout(s, font, language=language):
+        for item in _text_helpers.layout(s, font, features=features, language=language):
             char_id = self._get_char_id(item.ft_object, ord(item.char))
             glyph_ids.append(char_id)
             xpositions.append(item.x)
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/textpath.pyi b/lib/matplotlib/textpath.pyi
@@ -16,7 +16,12 @@ class TextToPath:
         self, s: str, prop: FontProperties, ismath: bool | Literal["TeX"]
     ) -> tuple[float, float, float]: ...
     def get_text_path(
-        self, prop: FontProperties, s: str, ismath: bool | Literal["TeX"] = ..., *,
+        self,
+        prop: FontProperties,
+        s: str,
+        ismath: bool | Literal["TeX"] = ...,
+        *,
+        features: tuple[str] | None = ...,
         language: str | list[tuple[str, int, int]] | None = ...,
     ) -> list[np.ndarray]: ...
     def get_glyphs_with_font(
@@ -26,6 +31,7 @@ class TextToPath:
         glyph_map: dict[str, tuple[np.ndarray, np.ndarray]] | None = ...,
         return_new_glyphs_only: bool = ...,
         *,
+        features: tuple[str] | None = ...,
         language: str | list[tuple[str, int, int]] | None = ...,
     ) -> tuple[
         list[tuple[str, float, float, float]],
diff --git a/src/ft2font.cpp b/src/ft2font.cpp
@@ -320,7 +320,7 @@ void FT2Font::set_kerning_factor(int factor)
 
 void FT2Font::set_text(
     std::u32string_view text, double angle, FT_Int32 flags,
-    LanguageType languages,
+    std::optional<std::vector<std::string>> features, LanguageType languages,
     std::vector<double> &xys)
 {
     FT_Matrix matrix; /* transformation matrix */
@@ -363,6 +363,14 @@ void FT2Font::set_text(
         throw std::runtime_error("failed to set text flags for layout");
     }
 
+    if (features) {
+        for (auto const& feature : *features) {
+            if (!raqm_add_font_feature(rq, feature.c_str(), feature.size())) {
+                throw std::runtime_error("failed to set font feature {}"_s.format(feature));
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
     if (languages.has_value()) {
         for (auto & [lang_str, start, end] : languages.value()) {
             if (!raqm_set_language(rq, lang_str.c_str(), start, end)) {
@@ -433,6 +441,15 @@ void FT2Font::set_text(
                 throw std::runtime_error("failed to set text flags for layout");
             }
 
+            if (features) {
+                for (auto const& feature : *features) {
+                    if (!raqm_add_font_feature(rq, feature.c_str(), feature.size())) {
+                        throw std::runtime_error(
+                            "failed to set font feature {}"_s.format(feature));
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+
             if (languages.has_value()) {
                 for (auto & [lang_str, start, end] : languages.value()) {
                     if (!raqm_set_language(rq, lang_str.c_str(), start, end)) {
diff --git a/src/ft2font.h b/src/ft2font.h
@@ -114,6 +114,7 @@ class FT2Font
     void set_charmap(int i);
     void select_charmap(unsigned long i);
     void set_text(std::u32string_view codepoints, double angle, FT_Int32 flags,
+                  std::optional<std::vector<std::string>> features,
                   LanguageType languages, std::vector<double> &xys);
     int get_kerning(FT_UInt left, FT_UInt right, FT_Kerning_Mode mode);
     void set_kerning_factor(int factor);
diff --git a/src/ft2font_wrapper.cpp b/src/ft2font_wrapper.cpp
