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<div class="section" id="configuration">
<h1>configuration<a class="headerlink" href="#configuration" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h1>
<div class="section" id="module-matplotlib">
<span id="matplotlib"></span><h2><a class="reference internal" href="#module-matplotlib" title="matplotlib"><tt class="xref py py-mod docutils literal"><span class="pre">matplotlib</span></tt></a><a class="headerlink" href="#module-matplotlib" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>This is an object-orient plotting library.</p>
<p>A procedural interface is provided by the companion pyplot module,
which may be imported directly, e.g:</p>
<div class="highlight-python"><div class="highlight"><pre><span class="kn">from</span> <span class="nn">matplotlib.pyplot</span> <span class="kn">import</span> <span class="o">*</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>To include numpy functions too, use:</p>
<div class="highlight-python"><div class="highlight"><pre><span class="kn">from</span> <span class="nn">pylab</span> <span class="kn">import</span> <span class="o">*</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>or using ipython:</p>
<div class="highlight-python"><div class="highlight"><pre><span class="n">ipython</span> <span class="o">-</span><span class="n">pylab</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>For the most part, direct use of the object-oriented library is
encouraged when programming; pyplot is primarily for working
interactively. The
exceptions are the pyplot commands <a class="reference internal" href="pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.figure" title="matplotlib.pyplot.figure"><tt class="xref py py-func docutils literal"><span class="pre">figure()</span></tt></a>,
<a class="reference internal" href="pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.subplot" title="matplotlib.pyplot.subplot"><tt class="xref py py-func docutils literal"><span class="pre">subplot()</span></tt></a>,
<a class="reference internal" href="pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.subplots" title="matplotlib.pyplot.subplots"><tt class="xref py py-func docutils literal"><span class="pre">subplots()</span></tt></a>,
<tt class="xref py py-func docutils literal"><span class="pre">show()</span></tt>, and
<a class="reference internal" href="pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.savefig" title="matplotlib.pyplot.savefig"><tt class="xref py py-func docutils literal"><span class="pre">savefig()</span></tt></a>, which can greatly simplify scripting.</p>
<p>Modules include:</p>
<blockquote>
<div><dl class="docutils">
<dt><a class="reference internal" href="axes_api.html#module-matplotlib.axes" title="matplotlib.axes"><tt class="xref py py-mod docutils literal"><span class="pre">matplotlib.axes</span></tt></a></dt>
<dd>defines the <a class="reference internal" href="axes_api.html#matplotlib.axes.Axes" title="matplotlib.axes.Axes"><tt class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">Axes</span></tt></a> class. Most pylab
commands are wrappers for <a class="reference internal" href="axes_api.html#matplotlib.axes.Axes" title="matplotlib.axes.Axes"><tt class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">Axes</span></tt></a>
methods. The axes module is the highest level of OO access to
the library.</dd>
<dt><a class="reference internal" href="figure_api.html#module-matplotlib.figure" title="matplotlib.figure"><tt class="xref py py-mod docutils literal"><span class="pre">matplotlib.figure</span></tt></a></dt>
<dd>defines the <a class="reference internal" href="figure_api.html#matplotlib.figure.Figure" title="matplotlib.figure.Figure"><tt class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">Figure</span></tt></a> class.</dd>
<dt><a class="reference internal" href="artist_api.html#module-matplotlib.artist" title="matplotlib.artist"><tt class="xref py py-mod docutils literal"><span class="pre">matplotlib.artist</span></tt></a></dt>
<dd>defines the <a class="reference internal" href="artist_api.html#matplotlib.artist.Artist" title="matplotlib.artist.Artist"><tt class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">Artist</span></tt></a> base class for
all classes that draw things.</dd>
<dt><a class="reference internal" href="artist_api.html#module-matplotlib.lines" title="matplotlib.lines"><tt class="xref py py-mod docutils literal"><span class="pre">matplotlib.lines</span></tt></a></dt>
<dd>defines the <a class="reference internal" href="artist_api.html#matplotlib.lines.Line2D" title="matplotlib.lines.Line2D"><tt class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">Line2D</span></tt></a> class for
drawing lines and markers</dd>
<dt><a class="reference internal" href="artist_api.html#module-matplotlib.patches" title="matplotlib.patches"><tt class="xref py py-mod docutils literal"><span class="pre">matplotlib.patches</span></tt></a></dt>
<dd>defines classes for drawing polygons</dd>
<dt><a class="reference internal" href="artist_api.html#module-matplotlib.text" title="matplotlib.text"><tt class="xref py py-mod docutils literal"><span class="pre">matplotlib.text</span></tt></a></dt>
<dd>defines the <a class="reference internal" href="artist_api.html#matplotlib.text.Text" title="matplotlib.text.Text"><tt class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">Text</span></tt></a>,
<a class="reference internal" href="artist_api.html#matplotlib.text.TextWithDash" title="matplotlib.text.TextWithDash"><tt class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">TextWithDash</span></tt></a>, and
<tt class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">Annotate</span></tt> classes</dd>
<dt><tt class="xref py py-mod docutils literal"><span class="pre">matplotlib.image</span></tt></dt>
<dd>defines the <tt class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">AxesImage</span></tt> and
<tt class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">FigureImage</span></tt> classes</dd>
<dt><a class="reference internal" href="collections_api.html#module-matplotlib.collections" title="matplotlib.collections"><tt class="xref py py-mod docutils literal"><span class="pre">matplotlib.collections</span></tt></a></dt>
<dd>classes for efficient drawing of groups of lines or polygons</dd>
<dt><a class="reference internal" href="colors_api.html#module-matplotlib.colors" title="matplotlib.colors"><tt class="xref py py-mod docutils literal"><span class="pre">matplotlib.colors</span></tt></a></dt>
<dd>classes for interpreting color specifications and for making
colormaps</dd>
<dt><a class="reference internal" href="cm_api.html#module-matplotlib.cm" title="matplotlib.cm"><tt class="xref py py-mod docutils literal"><span class="pre">matplotlib.cm</span></tt></a></dt>
<dd>colormaps and the <tt class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">ScalarMappable</span></tt>
mixin class for providing color mapping functionality to other
classes</dd>
<dt><a class="reference internal" href="ticker_api.html#module-matplotlib.ticker" title="matplotlib.ticker"><tt class="xref py py-mod docutils literal"><span class="pre">matplotlib.ticker</span></tt></a></dt>
<dd>classes for calculating tick mark locations and for formatting
tick labels</dd>
<dt><tt class="xref py py-mod docutils literal"><span class="pre">matplotlib.backends</span></tt></dt>
<dd>a subpackage with modules for various gui libraries and output
formats</dd>
</dl>
</div></blockquote>
<p>The base matplotlib namespace includes:</p>
<blockquote>
<div><dl class="docutils">
<dt><tt class="xref py py-data docutils literal"><span class="pre">rcParams</span></tt></dt>
<dd>a global dictionary of default configuration settings. It is
initialized by code which may be overridded by a matplotlibrc
file.</dd>
<dt><a class="reference internal" href="#matplotlib.rc" title="matplotlib.rc"><tt class="xref py py-func docutils literal"><span class="pre">rc()</span></tt></a></dt>
<dd>a function for setting groups of rcParams values</dd>
<dt><a class="reference internal" href="#matplotlib.use" title="matplotlib.use"><tt class="xref py py-func docutils literal"><span class="pre">use()</span></tt></a></dt>
<dd>a function for setting the matplotlib backend. If used, this
function must be called immediately after importing matplotlib
for the first time. In particular, it must be called
<strong>before</strong> importing pylab (if pylab is imported).</dd>
</dl>
</div></blockquote>
<p>matplotlib was initially written by John D. Hunter (jdh2358 at
gmail.com) and is now developed and maintained by a host of others.</p>
<p>Occasionally the internal documentation (python docstrings) will refer
to MATLAB&reg;, a registered trademark of The MathWorks, Inc.</p>
<dl class="function">
<dt id="matplotlib.rc">
<tt class="descclassname">matplotlib.</tt><tt class="descname">rc</tt><big>(</big><em>group</em>, <em>**kwargs</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#matplotlib.rc" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Set the current rc params. Group is the grouping for the rc, eg.
for <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">lines.linewidth</span></tt> the group is <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">lines</span></tt>, for
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">axes.facecolor</span></tt>, the group is <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">axes</span></tt>, and so on. Group may
also be a list or tuple of group names, eg. (<em>xtick</em>, <em>ytick</em>).
<em>kwargs</em> is a dictionary attribute name/value pairs, eg:</p>
<div class="highlight-python"><div class="highlight"><pre><span class="n">rc</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s">'lines'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">linewidth</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="mi">2</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">color</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="s">'r'</span><span class="p">)</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>sets the current rc params and is equivalent to:</p>
<div class="highlight-python"><div class="highlight"><pre><span class="n">rcParams</span><span class="p">[</span><span class="s">'lines.linewidth'</span><span class="p">]</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="mi">2</span>
<span class="n">rcParams</span><span class="p">[</span><span class="s">'lines.color'</span><span class="p">]</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="s">'r'</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>The following aliases are available to save typing for interactive
users:</p>
<table border="1" class="docutils">
<colgroup>
<col width="23%" />
<col width="77%" />
</colgroup>
<thead valign="bottom">
<tr><th class="head">Alias</th>
<th class="head">Property</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody valign="top">
<tr><td>‘lw’</td>
<td>‘linewidth’</td>
</tr>
<tr><td>‘ls’</td>
<td>‘linestyle’</td>
</tr>
<tr><td>‘c’</td>
<td>‘color’</td>
</tr>
<tr><td>‘fc’</td>
<td>‘facecolor’</td>
</tr>
<tr><td>‘ec’</td>
<td>‘edgecolor’</td>
</tr>
<tr><td>‘mew’</td>
<td>‘markeredgewidth’</td>
</tr>
<tr><td>‘aa’</td>
<td>‘antialiased’</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Thus you could abbreviate the above rc command as:</p>
<div class="highlight-python"><div class="highlight"><pre><span class="n">rc</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s">'lines'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">lw</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="mi">2</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">c</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="s">'r'</span><span class="p">)</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>Note you can use python’s kwargs dictionary facility to store
dictionaries of default parameters. Eg, you can customize the
font rc as follows:</p>
<div class="highlight-python"><div class="highlight"><pre><span class="n">font</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="p">{</span><span class="s">'family'</span> <span class="p">:</span> <span class="s">'monospace'</span><span class="p">,</span>
<span class="s">'weight'</span> <span class="p">:</span> <span class="s">'bold'</span><span class="p">,</span>
<span class="s">'size'</span> <span class="p">:</span> <span class="s">'larger'</span><span class="p">}</span>
<span class="n">rc</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s">'font'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="o">**</span><span class="n">font</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="c"># pass in the font dict as kwargs</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>This enables you to easily switch between several configurations.
Use <a class="reference internal" href="pyplot_api.html#matplotlib.pyplot.rcdefaults" title="matplotlib.pyplot.rcdefaults"><tt class="xref py py-func docutils literal"><span class="pre">rcdefaults()</span></tt></a> to restore the default
rc params after changes.</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="function">
<dt id="matplotlib.rcdefaults">
<tt class="descclassname">matplotlib.</tt><tt class="descname">rcdefaults</tt><big>(</big><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#matplotlib.rcdefaults" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Restore the default rc params - these are not the params loaded by
the rc file, but mpl’s internal params. See rc_file_defaults for
reloading the default params from the rc file</p>
</dd></dl>
<dl class="function">
<dt id="matplotlib.use">
<tt class="descclassname">matplotlib.</tt><tt class="descname">use</tt><big>(</big><em>arg</em>, <em>warn=True</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#matplotlib.use" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Set the matplotlib backend to one of the known backends.</p>
<p>The argument is case-insensitive. For the Cairo backend,
the argument can have an extension to indicate the type of
output. Example:</p>
<blockquote>
<div>use(‘cairo.pdf’)</div></blockquote>
<p>will specify a default of pdf output generated by Cairo.</p>
<div class="admonition note">
<p class="first admonition-title">Note</p>
<p class="last">This function must be called <em>before</em> importing pyplot for
the first time; or, if you are not using pyplot, it must be called
before importing matplotlib.backends. If warn is True, a warning
is issued if you try and call this after pylab or pyplot have been
loaded. In certain black magic use cases, e.g.
<tt class="xref py py-func docutils literal"><span class="pre">pyplot.switch_backends()</span></tt>, we are doing the reloading necessary to
make the backend switch work (in some cases, e.g. pure image
backends) so one can set warn=False to supporess the warnings.</p>
</div>
<p>To find out which backend is currently set, see
<tt class="xref py py-func docutils literal"><span class="pre">matplotlib.get_backend()</span></tt>.</p>
</dd></dl>
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