plt.colormaps() returns a list of all registered colormaps. From the docs:

matplotlib.pyplot.colormaps()

Matplotlib provides a number of colormaps, and others can be added using register_cmap(). This function documents the built-in colormaps, and will also return a list of all registered colormaps if called.

The list this returns includes viridis, magma, inferno and plasma for me in 1.5.0

Answer from tmdavison on Stack Overflow
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PYTHON CHARTS
python-charts.com › home › matplotlib colormaps
Matplotlib colormaps [Full List] | PYTHON CHARTS
July 29, 2026 - Full list of matplotlib colormaps (viridis, plasma, coolwarm, tab10...) grouped by type. Click on a colormap to copy its name and use it with the cmap argument.
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Matplotlib
matplotlib.org › stable › users › explain › colors › colormaps.html
Choosing Colormaps in Matplotlib — Matplotlib 3.11.2 documentation
cmaps[category] = cmap_list · For the Sequential plots, the lightness value increases monotonically through the colormaps. This is good. Some of the \(L^*\) values in the colormaps span from 0 to 100 (binary and the other grayscale), and others start around \(L^*=20\).
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GeeksforGeeks
geeksforgeeks.org › python › matplotlib-colors-colormap-class-in-python
Matplotlib Colormaps - GeeksforGeeks
December 23, 2024 - Python · from matplotlib import colormaps print(list(colormaps)) Output: ['magma', 'inferno', 'plasma', 'viridis', 'cividis', 'twilight', 'twilight_shifted', 'turbo', 'Blues', 'BrBG', 'BuGn', 'BuPu', 'CMRmap', 'GnBu', 'Greens', 'Greys', 'OrRd', 'Oranges', 'PRGn', 'PiYG'] ..
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GitHub
github.com › pratiman-91 › colormaps
GitHub - pratiman-91/colormaps: Colormaps is a library of collection of colormaps or color palettes for Python. · GitHub
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt import colormaps as cmaps import numpy as np x = y = np.arange(-3.0, 3.01, 0.05) X, Y = np.meshgrid(x, y) sigmax = sigmay = 1.0 mux = muy = sigmaxy=0.0 Xmu = X-mux Ymu = Y-muy rho = sigmaxy/(sigmax*sigmay) z = Xmu**2/sigmax**2 + Ymu**2/sigmay**2 - 2*rho*Xmu*Ymu/(sigmax*sigmay) denom = 2*np.pi*sigmax*sigmay*np.sqrt(1-rho**2) Z = np.exp(-z/(2*(1-rho**2))) / denom plt.pcolormesh(X,Y,Z,cmap=cmaps.cubehelix3_16_r) plt.colorbar()
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Readthedocs
proplot.readthedocs.io › en › latest › colormaps.html
Colormaps — ProPlot documentation - Read the Docs
Matplotlib colormaps with erratic color transitions like 'jet' are still registered, but they are hidden from this table by default, and their usage is discouraged. If you need a list of colors associated with a registered or on-the-fly colormap, simply use get_colors.
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Analytics Vidhya
analyticsvidhya.com › home › cmap in python: tutorials & examples | colormaps in matplotlib (updated 2026)
Cmap in Python: Tutorials & Examples | Colormaps in Matplotlib (Updated 2026)
January 2, 2026 - Matplotlib, a widely-used data visualization library, offers numerous built-in colormaps. It also empowers users to craft custom colormaps, granting enhanced control and flexibility over the color schemes in their visualizations, a valuable feature when considering cmap in python colormaps.
Find elsewhere
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Colormaps
pratiman-91.github.io › colormaps
Home - Colormaps
Colormaps is a library of collection of colormaps or color palettes for Python. It’s written in Python with matplotlib and numpy as dependencies.
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Bids
bids.github.io › colormap
matplotlib colormaps
Update: These colormaps have been merged into the development version of Matplotlib, all of them will be included in matplotlib 1.5, and "option D" (now called "viridis") will be the new default colormap in matplotlib 2.0. If you just want the colormaps themselves, they're available in a single file here under a CC0 "no rights reserved" license.
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TutorialsPoint
tutorialspoint.com › matplotlib › matplotlib_colormaps.htm
Matplotlib - ColorMaps
This example generates side-by-side visualizations of the original colormap and its reversed version. from matplotlib.colors import ListedColormap import matplotlib.pyplot as plt import numpy as np # Define a list of color values in hexadecimal format colors = ["#bbffcc", "#a1fab4", "#41b6c4", "#2c7fb8", "#25abf4"] # Create a ListedColormap with the specified colors my_cmap = ListedColormap(colors, name="my_cmap") # Create a reversed version of the colormap my_cmap_r = my_cmap.reversed() # Define a helper function to plot data with associated colormap def plot_examples(colormaps): np.random.se
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Matplotlib
matplotlib.org › stable › tutorials › colors › colormaps.html
Matplotlib
May 25, 2022 - Matplotlib has support for visualizing information with a wide array of colors and colormaps.
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Pythoncharts
pythoncharts.com › matplotlib › matplotlib-colors-colormaps
Python Charts - Colors and Color Maps in Matplotlib
ListedColormaps store their color values in a .colors attribute. The list of colors that comprise the colormap can be directly accessed using the colors property, or it can be accessed indirectly by calling viridis with an array of values matching the length of the colormap.
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Medium
medium.com › @stacyfuende › colormaps-in-python-faecd8010f6c
Colormaps in Python. Here are some alternative color maps… | by Stacy M | Medium
September 6, 2025 - Colormaps in Python Here are some alternative color maps (cmaps) you can use in your maps to convey different visual styles or highlight specific features. These are built into Matplotlib, and you …
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PyPI
pypi.org › project › colormaps
colormaps · PyPI
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt import colormaps as cmaps import numpy as np x = y = np.arange(-3.0, 3.01, 0.05) X, Y = np.meshgrid(x, y) sigmax = sigmay = 1.0 mux = muy = sigmaxy=0.0 Xmu = X-mux Ymu = Y-muy rho = sigmaxy/(sigmax*sigmay) z = Xmu**2/sigmax**2 + Ymu**2/sigmay**2 - 2*rho*Xmu*Ymu/(sigmax*sigmay) denom = 2*np.pi*sigmax*sigmay*np.sqrt(1-rho**2) Z = np.exp(-z/(2*(1-rho**2))) / denom plt.pcolormesh(X,Y,Z,cmap=cmaps.cubehelix3_16_r) plt.colorbar()
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Readthedocs
cmap-docs.readthedocs.io › en › latest › colormaps
Colormaps - cmap
Colormap("viridis").to_gee() Returns a list of hexadecimal color strings (without a # prefix).
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GitHub
github.com › matplotlib › matplotlib › issues › 26244
[Doc]: document how to get list of registered colormaps · Issue #26244 · matplotlib/matplotlib
July 3, 2023 - In the left side you can see the name, and next to this the colormap. EDIT: A couple more. ... To get a list of all registered colormaps, you can do:: from matplotlib import colormaps list(colormaps)
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Medium
medium.com › data-science › beautiful-custom-colormaps-with-matplotlib-5bab3d1f0e72
Beautiful custom colormaps with Matplotlib | by Kerry Halupka | TDS Archive | Medium
July 28, 2020 - Let’s create a continuous colormap containing all of the colors above. We’ll be using the matplotlib.colors function called LinearSegmentedColormap. This function accepts a dictionary with a red, green and blue entries. Each entry should be a list of x, y0, y1 tuples, forming rows in a table.
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SciPy
scipy.github.io › old-wiki › pages › Cookbook › Matplotlib › Show_colormaps
Cookbook/Matplotlib/Show_colormaps - SciPy wiki dump
"""Python colormaps demo includes: examples for registering own color maps utility for showing all or selected named colormaps including self-defined ones""" import matplotlib import matplotlib.colors as col import matplotlib.cm as cm import matplotlib.pyplot as plt import numpy as np def register_own_cmaps(): """define two example colormaps as segmented lists and register them""" # a good guide for choosing colors is provided at # http://geography.uoregon.edu/datagraphics/color_scales.htm # # example 1: # create own colormap from purple, blue, green, orange to red # cdict contains a tuple structure for 'red', 'green', and 'blue'.
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Chrisholdgraf
chrisholdgraf.com › matplotlib › tutorials › colors › colormaps.html
Colormaps in Matplotlib — Matplotlib 2.0.0b1.post7580.dev0+ge487118 documentation
First, we’ll show the range of each colormap. Note that some seem to change more “quickly” than others. nrows = max(len(cmap_list) for cmap_category, cmap_list in cmaps.items()) gradient = np.linspace(0, 1, 256) gradient = np.vstack((gradient, gradient)) def plot_color_gradients(cmap_category, cmap_list, nrows): fig, axes = plt.subplots(nrows=nrows) fig.subplots_adjust(top=0.95, bottom=0.01, left=0.2, right=0.99) axes[0].set_title(cmap_category + ' colormaps', fontsize=14) for ax, name in zip(axes, cmap_list): ax.imshow(gradient, aspect='auto', cmap=plt.get_cmap(name)) pos = list(ax.get_position().bounds) x_text = pos[0] - 0.01 y_text = pos[1] + pos[3]/2.