plot/hist/boxplot with non numeric/date Index and MultiIndex

[lodagro]

Plotting functions work fine if the index holds numeric or date data.
But error is generated when Index holds e.g strings, or when MultiIndex is used.

[dieterv77]

My guess is you know about this, but just in case: you can pass use_index=False to the plot method to avoid errors in this case. Were you hoping it would use the strings as the tick marks?

[lodagro]

Idea is indeed to use a string representation of the index keys for tick marks.

In [14]: df
Out[14]: 
      consumption
car1  5.5        
car2  7.0        
car3  4.0        

In [15]: df.plot()

gives: ValueError: could not convert string to float: car3

In [24]: df
Out[24]: 
               consumption
brand  model              
brand1 model1  5.5        
       model2  7.0        
brand2 model1  4.0

gives: ValueError: setting an array element with a sequence.