IPython plotting inline not showing

Question

I have the following code in IPython running IPython QT Console on Linux.

%pylab inline

Welcome to pylab, a matplotlib-based Python environment [backend: module://IPython.zmq.pylab.backend_inline].
For more information, type 'help(pylab)'.

fig = figure()

ax = fig.add_axes()

ax = fig.add_axes([0,500, 0, 5000])

ax.plot([1,2,3,44], [4,4,55,55])
Out[5]: [<matplotlib.lines.Line2D at 0x3d8e7d0>]

fig
Out[6]: <matplotlib.figure.Figure at 0x3d25fd0>

fig.show()
/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.7/matplotlib/figure.py:362: UserWarning: matplotlib is currently using a non-GUI backend, so cannot show the figure
  "matplotlib is currently using a non-GUI backend, "

I've been struggling to make this work for some time, I've tried changing the backend manually with matplotlib.use() to Qt4Agg, GTK etc with no luck. This also happens in IPython notebook even when I call display().

Any ideas how to get the inline plotting working?

Marked Jakob's answer as the answer, but both are true actually. I had to replace the matploblibrc file with a new copy, started IPython QT Console with --pylab=None then manually entered %pylab inline in the console. Somehow this fixed the problem.

If you are not that much of an expert, and afraid of building from source, you may try installing from software repository, i.e. apt-get, yum etc — rafee
– rafee, Commented Oct 22, 2013 at 22:47

Jakob · Accepted Answer · 2013-10-23 06:12:51Z

4

The axis object is defined incorrectly, this prevents matplotlib from rendering.
Remove the first ax = fig.add_axes(), and replace the second line with
ax = fig.add_axes([0, 0, 1, 1]).

The add_axes method requests the size of the axis in relative coordinates, in the form left, bottom, width, height with values between 0 and 1, see e.g. matplotlib tutorial.

You may also try fig.add_subplot(111) instead of fig.add_axes() or fig,ax = subplots() to create your figure and axis objects. The latter assumes that you have populated the interactive namespace matplotlib (%pylab) call in IPython.

answered Oct 23, 2013 at 6:12

Jakob

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Joe Kington · Accepted Answer · 2013-10-22 22:41:45Z

1

It looks like your matplotlib build was compiled without a gui backend.

This is done when either a) it's explicitly specified (handy for webservers), or b) the required libraries for at least one gui backend aren't present (e.g. no Tk, Gtk, Qt, etc).

How did you install matplotlib?

If you compiled it from source, make sure that you have the development libraries for at least Tk installed and that your python install was compiled with Tk support (it is by default). If you installed it from your distro's repositories, whoever built the package built it without gui support, and you'll need to install it from another source.

answered Oct 22, 2013 at 22:41

Joe Kington

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Royi Over a year ago

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