title: Make joyplot/ridgeline plot using dates as the x-axis
body: <p>I am plotting a <strong>joyplot where the x-axis is a range of dates</strong>. However, joyplot only accepts dates arguments as numbers... As a result, the chart is plotted correctly, but the x-axis displays dates as their serial number, which is not very friendly to the end user.</p>
  <p>I have tried various methods to format the axis (like this one: <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/47366767/set-x-axis-labels-for-joyplot">Set x axis labels for joyplot</a>), but none worked so far!</p>
  <p><strong>How can I format the x-axis so that it displays dates in the 'mm.yyyy' format (eg.: 01.2022)?</strong></p>
  <p>I am using the following database to plot this example (saved as a .csv to my computer):
  <a href="https://www.boxofficemojo.com/genre/sg4242469121/?ref_=bo_gs_table_24" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.boxofficemojo.com/genre/sg4242469121/?ref_=bo_gs_table_24</a></p>
  <p>Table example (copy it and paste in a .csv file, naming it &quot;Example&quot;, as in code below):</p>
  <div class="s-table-container">
  <table class="s-table">
  <thead>
  <tr>
  <th>Title</th>
  <th>Release Date</th>
  <th>Date</th>
  <th>Distributor</th>
  </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
  <tr>
  <td>Incredibles 2</td>
  <td>Jun 15, 2018</td>
  <td>43252</td>
  <td>Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
  <td>The Lion King</td>
  <td>Jul 19, 2019</td>
  <td>43647</td>
  <td>Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
  <td>Finding Dory</td>
  <td>Jun 17, 2016</td>
  <td>42522</td>
  <td>Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
  <td>Frozen II</td>
  <td>Nov 22, 2019</td>
  <td>43770</td>
  <td>Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
  <td>Shrek 2</td>
  <td>May 19, 2004</td>
  <td>38108</td>
  <td>DreamWorks</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
  <td>Toy Story 4</td>
  <td>Jun 21, 2019</td>
  <td>43617</td>
  <td>Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
  <td>Toy Story 3</td>
  <td>Jun 18, 2010</td>
  <td>40330</td>
  <td>Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
  <td>Frozen</td>
  <td>Nov 22, 2013</td>
  <td>41579</td>
  <td>Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
  <td>The Secret Life of Pets</td>
  <td>Jul 8, 2016</td>
  <td>42552</td>
  <td>Universal Pictures</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
  <td>Despicable Me 2</td>
  <td>Jul 3, 2013</td>
  <td>41456</td>
  <td>Universal Pictures</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
  <td>Inside Out</td>
  <td>Jun 19, 2015</td>
  <td>42156</td>
  <td>Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
  <td>Zootopia</td>
  <td>Mar 4, 2016</td>
  <td>42430</td>
  <td>Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
  <td>Finding Nemo</td>
  <td>May 30, 2003</td>
  <td>37742</td>
  <td>Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
  <td>Minions</td>
  <td>Jul 10, 2015</td>
  <td>42186</td>
  <td>Universal Pictures</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
  <td>Shrek the Third</td>
  <td>May 18, 2007</td>
  <td>39203</td>
  <td>DreamWorks</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
  <td>The Lion King</td>
  <td>Jun 15, 1994</td>
  <td>34486</td>
  <td>Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
  <td>Up</td>
  <td>May 29, 2009</td>
  <td>39934</td>
  <td>Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
  <td>Minions: The Rise of Gru</td>
  <td>Jul 1, 2022</td>
  <td>44743</td>
  <td>Universal Pictures</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
  <td>The Grinch</td>
  <td>Nov 9, 2018</td>
  <td>43405</td>
  <td>Universal Pictures</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
  <td>Sing</td>
  <td>Dec 21, 2016</td>
  <td>42705</td>
  <td>Universal Pictures</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
  <td>Monsters University</td>
  <td>Jun 21, 2013</td>
  <td>41426</td>
  <td>Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures</td>
  </tr>
  </tbody>
  </table>
  </div>
  <p>Code:</p>
  <pre><code>import joypy
  import pandas as pd
  import numpy as np
  import matplotlib
  import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
  
  %matplotlib inline
  
  df = pd.read_csv(r'C:\Users\Downloads\Example.csv', delimiter=';') #replace file name and directory with your file, created from the table above
  print(df.shape)
  df.head()
  
  fig, ax = joypy.joyplot(df, 
                          by = 'Distributor', 
                          column='Date', 
                          colormap=cm.autumn, 
                          figsize = (10,6),
                          fade = True)
  </code></pre>
  <p>Output plot:</p>
  <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/DLAOR.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/DLAOR.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>