I’m trying to plot some values and their errors, and to make sure each value is considered separate, I’d like to make them all different colors. I keep running into this error that says I can’t use my list for the color parameter, which I don’t understand because all the documentation and examples I’ve read using matplotlib say this is the way to do that.

This is the code I used:

colors=['red', 'orange', 'green', 'blue', 'purple']
ground_states_graph=list(ground_state.values())
ground_states_err_graph=list(ground_state_err.values())
plt.errorbar(tsep_maxs, ground_states_graph, ground_states_err_graph, fmt='.', color=colors)

I got the following error:

ValueError                                Traceback (most recent call last)
Cell In[74], line 4
      2 ground_states_graph=list(ground_state.values())
      3 ground_states_err_graph=list(ground_state_err.values())
----> 4 plt.errorbar(tsep_maxs, ground_states_graph, ground_states_err_graph, fmt='.', color=colors)
      5 plt.fill_between(tsep_maxs, [ground_state[8]-ground_state_err[8]]*len(tsep_maxs),[ground_state[8]+ground_state_err[8]]*len(tsep_maxs),
      6                 color='grey')

File ~anaconda3Libsite-packagesmatplotlibpyplot.py:3030, in errorbar(x, y, yerr, xerr, fmt, ecolor, elinewidth, capsize, barsabove, lolims, uplims, xlolims, xuplims, errorevery, capthick, data, **kwargs)
   3009 @_copy_docstring_and_deprecators(Axes.errorbar)
   3010 def errorbar(
   3011     x: float | ArrayLike,
   (...)
   3028     **kwargs,
   3029 ) -> ErrorbarContainer:
-> 3030     return gca().errorbar(
   3031         x,
   3032         y,
   3033         yerr=yerr,
   3034         xerr=xerr,
   3035         fmt=fmt,
   3036         ecolor=ecolor,
   3037         elinewidth=elinewidth,
   3038         capsize=capsize,
   3039         barsabove=barsabove,
   3040         lolims=lolims,
   3041         uplims=uplims,
   3042         xlolims=xlolims,
   3043         xuplims=xuplims,
   3044         errorevery=errorevery,
   3045         capthick=capthick,
   3046         **({"data": data} if data is not None else {}),
   3047         **kwargs,
   3048     )

File ~anaconda3Libsite-packagesmatplotlib__init__.py:1465, in _preprocess_data.<locals>.inner(ax, data, *args, **kwargs)
   1462 @functools.wraps(func)
   1463 def inner(ax, *args, data=None, **kwargs):
   1464     if data is None:
-> 1465         return func(ax, *map(sanitize_sequence, args), **kwargs)
   1467     bound = new_sig.bind(ax, *args, **kwargs)
   1468     auto_label = (bound.arguments.get(label_namer)
   1469                   or bound.kwargs.get(label_namer))

File ~anaconda3Libsite-packagesmatplotlibaxes_axes.py:3580, in Axes.errorbar(self, x, y, yerr, xerr, fmt, ecolor, elinewidth, capsize, barsabove, lolims, uplims, xlolims, xuplims, errorevery, capthick, **kwargs)
   3574 kwargs['label'] = '_nolegend_'
   3576 # Create the main line and determine overall kwargs for child artists.
   3577 # We avoid calling self.plot() directly, or self._get_lines(), because
   3578 # that would call self._process_unit_info again, and do other indirect
   3579 # data processing.
-> 3580 (data_line, base_style), = self._get_lines._plot_args(
   3581     self, (x, y) if fmt == '' else (x, y, fmt), kwargs, return_kwargs=True)
   3583 # Do this after creating `data_line` to avoid modifying `base_style`.
   3584 if barsabove:

File ~anaconda3Libsite-packagesmatplotlibaxes_base.py:537, in _process_plot_var_args._plot_args(self, axes, tup, kwargs, return_kwargs, ambiguous_fmt_datakey)
    532 result = (make_artist(axes, x[:, j % ncx], y[:, j % ncy], kw,
    533                       {**kwargs, 'label': label})
    534           for j, label in enumerate(labels))
    536 if return_kwargs:
--> 537     return list(result)
    538 else:
    539     return [l[0] for l in result]

File ~anaconda3Libsite-packagesmatplotlibaxes_base.py:532, in <genexpr>(.0)
    529 else:
    530     labels = [label] * n_datasets
--> 532 result = (make_artist(axes, x[:, j % ncx], y[:, j % ncy], kw,
    533                       {**kwargs, 'label': label})
    534           for j, label in enumerate(labels))
    536 if return_kwargs:
    537     return list(result)

File ~anaconda3Libsite-packagesmatplotlibaxes_base.py:346, in _process_plot_var_args._makeline(self, axes, x, y, kw, kwargs)
    344 default_dict = self._getdefaults(set(), kw)
    345 self._setdefaults(default_dict, kw)
--> 346 seg = mlines.Line2D(x, y, **kw)
    347 return seg, kw

File ~anaconda3Libsite-packagesmatplotliblines.py:376, in Line2D.__init__(self, xdata, ydata, linewidth, linestyle, color, gapcolor, marker, markersize, markeredgewidth, markeredgecolor, markerfacecolor, markerfacecoloralt, fillstyle, antialiased, dash_capstyle, solid_capstyle, dash_joinstyle, solid_joinstyle, pickradius, drawstyle, markevery, **kwargs)
    373 self.set_drawstyle(drawstyle)
    375 self._color = None
--> 376 self.set_color(color)
    377 if marker is None:
    378     marker = 'none'  # Default.

File ~anaconda3Libsite-packagesmatplotliblines.py:1061, in Line2D.set_color(self, color)
   1053 def set_color(self, color):
   1054     """
   1055     Set the color of the line.
   1056 
   (...)
   1059     color : color
   1060     """
-> 1061     mcolors._check_color_like(color=color)
   1062     self._color = color
   1063     self.stale = True

File ~anaconda3Libsite-packagesmatplotlibcolors.py:246, in _check_color_like(**kwargs)
    244 for k, v in kwargs.items():
    245     if not is_color_like(v):
--> 246         raise ValueError(f"{v!r} is not a valid value for {k}")

ValueError: ['red', 'orange', 'green', 'blue', 'purple'] is not a valid value for color

I can’t find anyone else with a similar error.