Unambiguous abbreviations of x-labels in histogram

Author: Corrado Avolio

bashplotlib/histogram.py

@@ -182,11 +182,12 @@ def plot_hist(f, height=20.0, bincount=None, binwidth=None, pch="o", colour="def
     print(" " * (nlen + 1) + "-" * len(xs))
 
     if xlab:
-        xlen = len(str(float((max_y) / height) + max_y))
+        labels = abbreviate([str(b) for b in bins])
+        xlen = len(labels[0])
         for i in range(0, xlen):
             printcolour(" " * (nlen + 1), True, colour)
             for x in range(0, len(hist)):
-                num = str(bins[x])
+                num = labels[x]
                 if x % 2 != 0:
                     pass
                 elif i < len(num):

bashplotlib/utils/helpers.py

@@ -64,6 +64,18 @@ def drange(start, stop, step=1.0, include_stop=False):
             r = round(r, 10)
 
 
+def abbreviate(labels, rfill=' '):
+    """
+    Abbreviate labels without introducing ambiguities.
+    """
+    max_len = max(len(l) for l in labels)
+    for i in range(1, max_len):
+        abbrev = [l[:i].ljust(i, rfill) for l in labels]
+        if len(abbrev) == len(set(abbrev)):
+            break
+    return abbrev
+
+
 def box_text(text, width, offset=0):
     """
     Return text inside an ascii textbox