How can I open the interactive matplotlib window in IPython notebook?

Question

I am using IPython with --pylab=inline and would sometimes like to quickly switch to the interactive, zoomable matplotlib GUI for viewing plots (the one that po

Answer 1

I'm using ipython in "jupyter QTConsole" from Anaconda at www.continuum.io/downloads on 5/28/20117.

Here's an example to flip back and forth between a separate window and an inline plot mode using ipython magic.

>>> import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

# data to plot
>>> x1 = [x for x in range(20)]

# Show in separate window
>>> %matplotlib
>>> plt.plot(x1)
>>> plt.close() 

# Show in console window
>>> %matplotlib inline
>>> plt.plot(x1)
>>> plt.close() 

# Show in separate window
>>> %matplotlib
>>> plt.plot(x1)
>>> plt.close() 

# Show in console window
>>> %matplotlib inline
>>> plt.plot(x1)
>>> plt.close() 

# Note: the %matplotlib magic above causes:
#      plt.plot(...) 
# to implicitly include a:
#      plt.show()
# after the command.
#
# (Not sure how to turn off this behavior
# so that it matches behavior without using %matplotlib magic...)
# but its ok for interactive work...