# Current list of colorschemes in Plots.jl

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/current-list-of-colorschemes-in-plots-jl/5420>\
**Category:** Visualization\
**Tags:** question, plotting\
**Created:** [August 17, 2017, 5:18am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/current-list-of-colorschemes-in-plots-jl/5420 "2017-08-17T05:18:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
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**Author:** ![mkborregaard](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/mkborregaard/32/556_2.png) [@mkborregaard](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/mkborregaard)\
**Post date:** [August 17, 2017, 8:44am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/current-list-of-colorschemes-in-plots-jl/5420/2 "2017-08-17T08:44:23Z")

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Color gradients in Plots are arranged into color libraries. You don’t need to know or specify the color library to pick a color scheme, but they are useful for exploration. To get a list of all color libraries in Plots, use the `clibraries` function:

```julia
julia> clibraries()
5-element Array{Symbol,1}:
 :Plots
 :cmocean
 :misc
 :colorcet
 :colorbrewer

```

All but the `:misc` library are restricted to colorgradients that live up to the perceptual uniformity standards for scientific visualization (so you’ll have to look in the `:misc` library for a rainbow gradient). The Plots color library is loaded by default.  
You can get a list of colorschemes in each gradient by calling e.g. `cgradients(:colorcet)`. Or, you can use the `showlibrary` function to get a visual representation, e.g.

```julia
showlibrary(:Plots)

```

![55](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/original/3X/9/4/94ae6ef02261f33a602d9564ac6296725e171177.png)

Each color library also defines a default gradient (`:magma` in the case of `:Plots`), a `:sequential` gradient, and a `:diverging` gradient (for color gradients that are brightest in the middle - in `:Plots` this is the `:pu_or` gradient).

You can change the active color library by `clibrary(:colorbrewer)`. You can use any color gradient regardless of library by passing its name to the `color` attribute in Plots, but in case of namespace clashes (e.g. there are multiple `:blues`) it will default to the one in the current library.

I should add that you can reverse any color gradient by appending “\_r”, e.g. `:viridis_r`.

I would strongly recommend exploring the `:colorbrewer` ([from here](http://colorbrewer2.org/)), `:colorcet` ([from e.g. here](https://github.com/peterkovesi/PerceptualColourMaps.jl)) and `:cmocean` ([from here](http://kristenthyng.com/blog/2015/10/28/cmocean/)) libraries, they are very nice.

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