Deprecate passing strings instead of booleans to control tick state.

anntzer · anntzer · commit c9c9b7a8a6b4 · 2017-12-25T19:00:46.000-08:00
Passing "off" or "false" to mean False is so MATLAB like...
diff --git a/doc/api/api_changes/171225-AL-tickbools.rst b/doc/api/api_changes/171225-AL-tickbools.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+Using strings instead of booleans to control grid and tick visibility is deprecated
+```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
+
+Using ``"on"``, ``"off"``, ``"true"``, or ``"false"`` to control grid
+and tick visibility has been deprecated.  Instead, use normal booleans
+(``True``/``False``) or boolean-likes.  In the future, all non-empty strings
+may be interpreted as ``True``.
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/axes/_base.py b/lib/matplotlib/axes/_base.py
@@ -2645,8 +2645,7 @@ def grid(self, b=None, which='major', axis='both', **kwargs):
         """
         Turn the axes grids on or off.
 
-        Set the axes grids on or off; *b* is a boolean.  (For MATLAB
-        compatibility, *b* may also be a string, 'on' or 'off'.)
+        Set the axes grids on or off; *b* is a boolean.
 
         If *b* is *None* and ``len(kwargs)==0``, toggle the grid state.  If
         *kwargs* are supplied, it is assumed that you want a grid and *b*
@@ -2861,12 +2860,11 @@ def tick_params(self, axis='both', **kwargs):
         zorder : float
             Tick and label zorder.
 
-        bottom, top, left, right : bool or  {'on', 'off'}
-            controls whether to draw the respective ticks.
+        bottom, top, left, right : bool
+            Whether to draw the respective ticks.
 
-        labelbottom, labeltop, labelleft, labelright : bool or  {'on', 'off'}
-            controls whether to draw the
-            respective tick labels.
+        labelbottom, labeltop, labelleft, labelright : bool
+            Whether to draw the respective tick labels.
 
         labelrotation : float
             Tick label rotation
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/cbook/__init__.py b/lib/matplotlib/cbook/__init__.py
@@ -623,6 +623,9 @@ def _string_to_bool(s):
     """Parses the string argument as a boolean"""
     if not isinstance(s, six.string_types):
         return bool(s)
+    warn_deprecated("2.2", "Passing one of 'on', 'true', 'off', 'false' as a "
+                    "boolean is deprecated; use an actual boolean "
+                    "(True/False) instead.")
     if s.lower() in ['on', 'true']:
         return True
     if s.lower() in ['off', 'false']:
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/pyplot.py b/lib/matplotlib/pyplot.py
@@ -1372,10 +1372,12 @@ def tight_layout(pad=1.08, h_pad=None, w_pad=None, rect=None):
 
 def box(on=None):
     """
-    Turn the axes box on or off.  *on* may be a boolean or a string,
-    'on' or 'off'.
+    Turn the axes box on or off.
 
-    If *on* is *None*, toggle state.
+    Parameters
+    ----------
+    on : bool or None
+        The new axes box state.  If ``None``, toggle the state.
     """
     ax = gca()
     on = _string_to_bool(on)
