How to change matplotlib backend setting? [duplicate]

Question

I am trying to use IPython notebook on MacOS X with Python 2.7.2 and IPython 1.1.0.

I cannot get matplotlib graphics to show up inline.

import matplotlib
import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
%matplotlib inline

I have also tried %pylab inline and the ipython command line arguments --pylab=inline but this makes no difference.

x = np.linspace(0, 3*np.pi, 500)
plt.plot(x, np.sin(x**2))
plt.title('A simple chirp')
plt.show()

Instead of inline graphics, I get this:

<matplotlib.figure.Figure at 0x110b9c450>

And matplotlib.get_backend() shows that I have the 'module://IPython.kernel.zmq.pylab.backend_inline' backend.

Answer 1

I used %matplotlib inline in the first cell of the notebook and it works. I think you should try:

%matplotlib inline

import matplotlib
import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

You can also always start all your IPython kernels in inline mode by default by setting the following config options in your config files:

c.IPKernelApp.matplotlib=<CaselessStrEnum>
  Default: None
  Choices: ['auto', 'gtk', 'gtk3', 'inline', 'nbagg', 'notebook', 'osx', 'qt', 'qt4', 'qt5', 'tk', 'wx']
  Configure matplotlib for interactive use with the default matplotlib backend.

Answer 2

If your matplotlib version is above 1.4, it is also possible to use

IPython 3.x and above

%matplotlib notebook

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

older versions

%matplotlib nbagg

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

Both will activate the nbagg backend, which enables interactivity.