[FIXED] How to fix error "Invalid rrule byxxx generates an empty set." using a MinuteLocator for matplotlib plots?

Issue

I want to create a plot using matplotlib to show a time along the x axis. The following code is a complete minimum workable example

import random
from datetime import datetime
import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from matplotlib import dates as mdates

times = np.arange(0, 5000, 60)
x = [datetime.utcfromtimestamp(val) for val in times]
y = random.sample(range(1, 100), len(x))

formatter = mdates.DateFormatter("%H:%M")
locator = mdates.MinuteLocator(interval=10)
# locator = mdates.MinuteLocator(interval=10, byminute=10)
# locator = mdates.MinuteLocator(interval=10, byminute=[0,10,20,30,40,50])

plt.clf()
plt.gca().xaxis.set_major_formatter(formatter)
plt.gca().xaxis.set_major_locator(locator) 
plt.plot(x, y)
plt.grid(True)
plt.xlabel("time [min]")
plt.ylabel("Random number")
plt.show()

along with a DateFormatter creates the following axis labels:

However, I want the ticks to be made only at every full 10 minutes, i.e. I want ticks at times 15:30, 15:40, 15:50 etc and not starting at 15:24. So I tried

locator = mdates.MinuteLocator(interval=10, byminute=10)

which gives me an error

ValueError: Invalid rrule byxxx generates an empty set.

but according to the documentation you also can specify an int value or a list of ints. But even when trying to use a list of ints

locator = mdates.MinuteLocator(interval=10, byminute=[0,10,20,30,40,50])

it still gives the same error!

So how to fix this problem?

Solution

If you're listing specific integers, I don't think you need to specify the interval.

Change this:

locator = mdates.MinuteLocator(interval=10, byminute=[0,10,20,30,40,50])

To this:

locator = mdates.MinuteLocator(byminute=[0,10,20,30,40,50])

Answered By - TJM1769