Tick label font family via tick_params

Author: saranti

doc/users/next_whats_new/tick_labelfont_param.rst

@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+Allow setting the tick label fonts with a keyword argument
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+``Axes.tick_params`` now accepts a *labelfontfamily* keyword that changes the tick
+label font separately from the rest of the text objects:
+
+.. code-block:: python
+
+    Axis.tick_params(labelfontfamily*='monospace')

lib/matplotlib/axes/_base.py

@@ -3337,6 +3337,8 @@ def tick_params(self, axis='both', **kwargs):
             Tick label font size in points or as a string (e.g., 'large').
         labelcolor : color
             Tick label color.
+        labelfontfamily : str
+            Tick label font.
         colors : color
             Tick color and label color.
         zorder : float

lib/matplotlib/axis.py

@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@ def __init__(
         pad=None,
         labelsize=None,
         labelcolor=None,
+        labelfontfamily=None,
         zorder=None,
         gridOn=None,  # defaults to axes.grid depending on axes.grid.which
         tick1On=True,
@@ -174,11 +175,11 @@ def __init__(
         self.label1 = mtext.Text(
             np.nan, np.nan,
             fontsize=labelsize, color=labelcolor, visible=label1On,
-            rotation=self._labelrotation[1])
+            fontfamily=labelfontfamily, rotation=self._labelrotation[1])
         self.label2 = mtext.Text(
             np.nan, np.nan,
             fontsize=labelsize, color=labelcolor, visible=label2On,
-            rotation=self._labelrotation[1])
+            fontfamily=labelfontfamily, rotation=self._labelrotation[1])
 
         self._apply_tickdir(tickdir)
 
@@ -376,7 +377,7 @@ def _apply_params(self, **kwargs):
             self.label2.set(rotation=self._labelrotation[1])
 
         label_kw = {k[5:]: v for k, v in kwargs.items()
-                    if k in ['labelsize', 'labelcolor']}
+                    if k in ['labelsize', 'labelcolor', 'labelfontfamily']}
         self.label1.set(**label_kw)
         self.label2.set(**label_kw)
 
@@ -1036,7 +1037,7 @@ def _translate_tick_params(kw, reverse=False):
         # The following lists may be moved to a more accessible location.
         allowed_keys = [
             'size', 'width', 'color', 'tickdir', 'pad',
-            'labelsize', 'labelcolor', 'zorder', 'gridOn',
+            'labelsize', 'labelcolor', 'labelfontfamily', 'zorder', 'gridOn',
             'tick1On', 'tick2On', 'label1On', 'label2On',
             'length', 'direction', 'left', 'bottom', 'right', 'top',
             'labelleft', 'labelbottom', 'labelright', 'labeltop',

lib/matplotlib/axis.pyi

@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ from matplotlib.ticker import Locator, Formatter
 from matplotlib.transforms import Transform, Bbox
 
 import datetime
-from collections.abc import Callable, Iterable
+from collections.abc import Callable, Iterable, Sequence
 from typing import Any, Literal
 import numpy as np
 from numpy.typing import ArrayLike
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ class Tick(martist.Artist):
         pad: float | None = ...,
         labelsize: float | None = ...,
         labelcolor: ColorType | None = ...,
+        labelfontfamily: str | Sequence[str] | None = ...,
         zorder: float | None = ...,
         gridOn: bool | None = ...,
         tick1On: bool = ...,

lib/matplotlib/tests/test_axes.py

@@ -8589,3 +8589,14 @@ def test_fill_between_axes_limits():
                     color='green', alpha=0.5, transform=ax.get_xaxis_transform())
 
     assert (ax.get_xlim(), ax.get_ylim()) == original_lims
+
+
+def test_tick_param_labelfont():
+    fig, ax = plt.subplots()
+    ax.plot([1, 2, 3, 4], [1, 2, 3, 4])
+    ax.set_xlabel('X label in Impact font', fontname='Impact')
+    ax.set_ylabel('Y label in Humor Sans', fontname='Humor Sans')
+    ax.tick_params(color='r', labelfontfamily='monospace')
+    plt.title('Title in sans-serif')
+    for text in ax.get_xticklabels():
+        assert text.get_fontfamily()[0] == 'monospace'