>>> """
============
Rainbow text
============

The example shows how to string together several text objects.

History
-------
On the matplotlib-users list back in February 2012, Gökhan Sever asked the
following question:

  | Is there a way in matplotlib to partially specify the color of a string?
  |
  | Example:
  |
  | plt.ylabel("Today is cloudy.")
  |
  | How can I show "today" as red, "is" as green and "cloudy." as blue?
  |
  | Thanks.

The solution below is modified from Paul Ivanov's original answer.
"""
... 
... import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
... from matplotlib.transforms import Affine2D
... 
... 
... def rainbow_text(x, y, strings, colors, orientation='horizontal',
...                  ax=None, **kwargs):
...     """
    Take a list of *strings* and *colors* and place them next to each
    other, with text strings[i] being shown in colors[i].

    Parameters
    ----------
    x, y : float
        Text position in data coordinates.
    strings : list of str
        The strings to draw.
    colors : list of color
        The colors to use.
    orientation : {'horizontal', 'vertical'}
    ax : Axes, optional
        The Axes to draw into. If None, the current axes will be used.
    **kwargs
        All other keyword arguments are passed to plt.text(), so you can
        set the font size, family, etc.
    """
...     if ax is None:
...         ax = plt.gca()
...     t = ax.transData
...     canvas = ax.figure.canvas
... 
...     assert orientation in ['horizontal', 'vertical']
...     if orientation == 'vertical':
...         kwargs.update(rotation=90, verticalalignment='bottom')
... 
...     for s, c in zip(strings, colors):
...         text = ax.text(x, y, s + " ", color=c, transform=t, **kwargs)
... 
...         # Need to draw to update the text position.
...         text.draw(canvas.get_renderer())
...         ex = text.get_window_extent()
...         if orientation == 'horizontal':
...             t = text.get_transform() + Affine2D().translate(ex.width, 0)
...         else:
...             t = text.get_transform() + Affine2D().translate(0, ex.height)
... 
... 
... words = "all unicorns poop rainbows ! ! !".split()
... colors = ['red', 'orange', 'gold', 'lawngreen', 'lightseagreen', 'royalblue',
...           'blueviolet']
... plt.figure(figsize=(6, 6))
... rainbow_text(0.1, 0.05, words, colors, size=18)
... rainbow_text(0.05, 0.1, words, colors, orientation='vertical', size=18)
... 
... plt.show()
...