How to make IPython notebook matplotlib plot inline

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.

Asked By: Ian Fiske

||

Source

Answer 1

I found a workaround that is quite satisfactory. I installed Anaconda Python and this now works out of the box for me.

Answered By: Ian Fiske

Answer 2

Use the %pylab inline magic command.

Answered By: foobarbecue

Answer 3

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.

Answered By: eNord9

Answer 4

I have to agree with foobarbecue (I don’t have enough recs to be able to simply insert a comment under his post):

It’s now recommended that python notebook isn’t started wit the argument --pylab, and according to Fernando Perez (creator of ipythonnb) %matplotlib inline should be the initial notebook command.

See here: http://nbviewer.ipython.org/github/ipython/ipython/blob/1.x/examples/notebooks/Part%203%20-%20Plotting%20with%20Matplotlib.ipynb

Answered By: thescoop

Answer 5

I did the anaconda install but matplotlib is not plotting

It starts plotting when i did this

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

Answered By: Raymond

Answer 6

Ctrl + Enter

%matplotlib inline

Magic Line 😀

See: Plotting with Matplotlib.

Answered By: CodeFarmer

Answer 7

To make matplotlib inline by default in Jupyter (IPython 3):

Edit file ~/.ipython/profile_default/ipython_config.py
Add line c.InteractiveShellApp.matplotlib = 'inline'

Please note that adding this line to ipython_notebook_config.py would not work.
Otherwise it works well with Jupyter and IPython 3.1.0

Answered By: volodymyr

Answer 8

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.

Answered By: Løiten

Answer 9

You can simulate this problem with a syntax mistake, however, %matplotlib inline won’t resolve the issue.

First an example of the right way to create a plot. Everything works as expected with the imports and magic that eNord9 supplied.

df_randNumbers1 = pd.DataFrame(np.random.randint(0,100,size=(100, 6)), columns=list('ABCDEF'))

df_randNumbers1.ix[:,["A","B"]].plot.kde()

However, by leaving the () off the end of the plot type you receive a somewhat ambiguous non-error.

Erronious code:

df_randNumbers1.ix[:,["A","B"]].plot.kde

Example error:

<bound method FramePlotMethods.kde of <pandas.tools.plotting.FramePlotMethods object at 0x000001DDAF029588>>

Other than this one line message, there is no stack trace or other obvious reason to think you made a syntax error. The plot doesn’t print.

Answered By: Blake M

Answer 10

I had the same problem when I was running the plotting commands in separate cells in Jupyter:

In [1]:  %matplotlib inline
         import matplotlib
         import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
         import numpy as np
In [2]:  x = np.array([1, 3, 4])
         y = np.array([1, 5, 3])
In [3]:  fig = plt.figure()
         <Figure size 432x288 with 0 Axes>                      #this might be the problem
In [4]:  ax = fig.add_subplot(1, 1, 1)
In [5]:  ax.scatter(x, y)
Out[5]:  <matplotlib.collections.PathCollection at 0x12341234>  # CAN'T SEE ANY PLOT :(
In [6]:  plt.show()                                             # STILL CAN'T SEE IT :(

The problem was solved by merging the plotting commands into a single cell:

In [1]:  %matplotlib inline
         import matplotlib
         import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
         import numpy as np
In [2]:  x = np.array([1, 3, 4])
         y = np.array([1, 5, 3])
In [3]:  fig = plt.figure()
         ax = fig.add_subplot(1, 1, 1)
         ax.scatter(x, y)
Out[3]:  <matplotlib.collections.PathCollection at 0x12341234>
         # AND HERE APPEARS THE PLOT AS DESIRED :)

Answered By: krubo

Answer 11

If you’re using Jupyter notebooks in Visual Studio Code (VSCode) then the inline backend doesn’t seem to work so you need to specify widget/ipympl (which you may need to install support for e.g. pip install ipympl):

%matplotlib widget

Answered By: Pierz

How to make IPython notebook matplotlib plot inline

Question:

Answers: