The answer above inspired me to write a small but flexible function myself:
def barplot_annotate_brackets(num1, num2, data, center, height, yerr=None, dh=.05, barh=.05, fs=None, maxasterix=None):
"""
Annotate barplot with p-values.
:param num1: number of left bar to put bracket over
:param num2: number of right bar to put bracket over
:param data: string to write or number for generating asterixes
:param center: centers of all bars (like plt.bar() input)
:param height: heights of all bars (like plt.bar() input)
:param yerr: yerrs of all bars (like plt.bar() input)
:param dh: height offset over bar / bar + yerr in axes coordinates (0 to 1)
:param barh: bar height in axes coordinates (0 to 1)
:param fs: font size
:param maxasterix: maximum number of asterixes to write (for very small p-values)
"""
if type(data) is str:
text = data
else:
# * is p < 0.05
# ** is p < 0.005
# *** is p < 0.0005
# etc.
text=""
p = .05
while data < p:
text += '*'
p /= 10.
if maxasterix and len(text) == maxasterix:
break
if len(text) == 0:
text="n. s."
lx, ly = center[num1], height[num1]
rx, ry = center[num2], height[num2]
if yerr:
ly += yerr[num1]
ry += yerr[num2]
ax_y0, ax_y1 = plt.gca().get_ylim()
dh *= (ax_y1 - ax_y0)
barh *= (ax_y1 - ax_y0)
y = max(ly, ry) + dh
barx = [lx, lx, rx, rx]
bary = [y, y+barh, y+barh, y]
mid = ((lx+rx)/2, y+barh)
plt.plot(barx, bary, c="black")
kwargs = dict(ha="center", va="bottom")
if fs is not None:
kwargs['fontsize'] = fs
plt.text(*mid, text, **kwargs)
which allows me to get some nice annotations relatively simple, e.g.:
heights = [1.8, 2, 3]
bars = np.arange(len(heights))
plt.figure()
plt.bar(bars, heights, align='center')
plt.ylim(0, 5)
barplot_annotate_brackets(0, 1, .1, bars, heights)
barplot_annotate_brackets(1, 2, .001, bars, heights)
barplot_annotate_brackets(0, 2, 'p < 0.0075', bars, heights, dh=.2)
