matplotlib.github.com/3.6.2/users/explain/backends.html at main · matplotlib/matplotlib.github.com

History

770 lines (597 loc) · 39.7 KB

Raw

100

101

102

103

104

105

106

107

108

109

110

111

112

113

114

115

116

117

118

119

120

121

122

123

124

125

126

127

128

129

130

131

132

133

134

135

136

137

138

139

140

141

142

143

144

145

146

147

148

149

150

151

152

153

154

155

156

157

158

159

160

161

162

163

164

165

166

167

168

169

170

171

172

173

174

175

176

177

178

179

180

181

182

183

184

185

186

187

188

189

190

191

192

193

194

195

196

197

198

199

200

201

202

203

204

205

206

207

208

209

210

211

212

213

214

215

216

217

218

219

220

221

222

223

224

225

226

227

228

229

230

231

232

233

234

235

236

237

238

239

240

241

242

243

244

245

246

247

248

249

250

251

252

253

254

255

256

257

258

259

260

261

262

263

264

265

266

267

268

269

270

271

272

273

274

275

276

277

278

279

280

281

282

283

284

285

286

287

288

289

290

291

292

293

294

295

296

297

298

299

300

301

302

303

304

305

306

307

308

309

310

311

312

313

314

315

316

317

318

319

320

321

322

323

324

325

326

327

328

329

330

331

332

333

334

335

336

337

338

339

340

341

342

343

344

345

346

347

348

349

350

351

352

353

354

355

356

357

358

359

360

361

362

363

364

365

366

367

368

369

370

371

372

373

374

375

376

377

378

379

380

381

382

383

384

385

386

387

388

389

390

391

392

393

394

395

396

397

398

399

400

401

402

403

404

405

406

407

408

409

410

411

412

413

414

415

416

417

418

419

420

421

422

423

424

425

426

427

428

429

430

431

432

433

434

435

436

437

438

439

440

441

442

443

444

445

446

447

448

449

450

451

452

453

454

455

456

457

458

459

460

461

462

463

464

465

466

467

468

469

470

471

472

473

474

475

476

477

478

479

480

481

482

483

484

485

486

487

488

489

490

491

492

493

494

495

496

497

498

499

500

501

502

503

504

505

506

507

508

509

510

511

512

513

514

515

516

517

518

519

520

521

522

523

524

525

526

527

528

529

530

531

532

533

534

535

536

537

538

539

540

541

542

543

544

545

546

547

548

549

550

551

552

553

554

555

556

557

558

559

560

561

562

563

564

565

566

567

568

569

570

571

572

573

574

575

576

577

578

579

580

581

582

583

584

585

586

587

588

589

590

591

592

593

594

595

596

597

598

599

600

601

602

603

604

605

606

607

608

609

610

611

612

613

614

615

616

617

618

619

620

621

622

623

624

625

626

627

628

629

630

631

632

633

634

635

636

637

638

639

640

641

642

643

644

645

646

647

648

649

650

651

652

653

654

655

656

657

658

659

660

661

662

663

664

665

666

667

668

669

670

671

672

673

674

675

676

677

678

679

680

681

682

683

684

685

686

687

688

689

690

691

692

693

694

695

696

697

698

699

700

701

702

703

704

705

706

707

708

709

710

711

712

713

714

715

716

717

718

719

720

721

722

723

724

725

726

727

728

729

730

731

732

733

734

735

736

737

738

739

740

741

742

743

744

745

746

747

748

749

750

751

752

753

754

755

756

757

758

759

760

761

762

763

764

765

766

767

768

769

770

<!DOCTYPE html>

<head>

<title>Backends — Matplotlib 3.6.2 documentation</title>

document.documentElement.dataset.mode = localStorage.getItem("mode") || "";

document.documentElement.dataset.theme = localStorage.getItem("theme") || "light";

</script>

href="../../_static/vendor/fontawesome/6.1.2/css/all.min.css">

href="../../_static/vendor/fontawesome/6.1.2/webfonts/fa-solid-900.woff2">

href="../../_static/vendor/fontawesome/6.1.2/webfonts/fa-brands-400.woff2">

href="../../_static/vendor/fontawesome/6.1.2/webfonts/fa-regular-400.woff2">

DOCUMENTATION_OPTIONS.theme_switcher_json_url = 'https://matplotlib.org/devdocs/_static/switcher.json';

DOCUMENTATION_OPTIONS.theme_switcher_version_match = '3.6.2';

</script>

title="Search within Matplotlib 3.6.2 documentation"

href="../../_static/opensearch.xml"/>

</head>

</form>

</div>

</label>

</a>

</div>

<a class="reference internal nav-link" href="../../plot_types/index.html">Plot types</a>

</li>

<a class="reference internal nav-link" href="../../gallery/index.html">Examples</a>

</li>

<a class="reference internal nav-link" href="../../tutorials/index.html">Tutorials</a>

</li>

<a class="reference internal nav-link" href="../../api/index.html">Reference</a>

</li>

<a class="reference internal nav-link" href="../index.html">User guide</a>

</li>

<a class="reference internal nav-link" href="../../devel/index.html">Develop</a>

</li>

<a class="reference internal nav-link" href="../release_notes.html">Release notes</a>

</li>

</ul>

</div>

</button>

</div>

</span>

</div>

stable

</button>

</div>

<label class="sr-only">Gitter</label></a>

</li>

<label class="sr-only">Discourse</label></a>

</li>

<label class="sr-only">GitHub</label></a>

</li>

<label class="sr-only">Twitter</label></a>

</li>

</ul>

</div>

</button>

</div>

</label>

</div>

</nav>

<a class="reference internal nav-link" href="../../plot_types/index.html">Plot types</a>

</li>

<a class="reference internal nav-link" href="../../gallery/index.html">Examples</a>

</li>

<a class="reference internal nav-link" href="../../tutorials/index.html">Tutorials</a>

</li>

<a class="reference internal nav-link" href="../../api/index.html">Reference</a>

</li>

<a class="reference internal nav-link" href="../index.html">User guide</a>

</li>

<a class="reference internal nav-link" href="../../devel/index.html">Develop</a>

</li>

<a class="reference internal nav-link" href="../release_notes.html">Release notes</a>

</li>

</ul>

</div>

</span>

</div>

stable

</button>

</div>

<label class="sr-only">Gitter</label></a>

</li>

<label class="sr-only">Discourse</label></a>

</li>

<label class="sr-only">GitHub</label></a>

</li>

<label class="sr-only">Twitter</label></a>

</li>

</ul>

</div>

Section Navigation

</p>

<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="api_interfaces.html">Matplotlib Application Interfaces (APIs)</a></li>

<li class="toctree-l1 current active"><a class="current reference internal" href="#">Backends</a></li>

<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="interactive.html">Interactive figures</a></li>

<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="fonts.html">Fonts in Matplotlib</a></li>

<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="event_handling.html">Event handling and picking</a></li>

<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="performance.html">Performance</a></li>

<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="interactive_guide.html">Interactive figures and asynchronous programming</a></li>

</ul>

</div>

</nav>

</div>

</div>

</div>

<span id="id1"></span><h1>Backends<a class="headerlink" href="#backends" title="Permalink to this heading">#</a></h1>

<span id="id2"></span><h2>What is a backend?<a class="headerlink" href="#what-is-a-backend" title="Permalink to this heading">#</a></h2>

<p>A lot of documentation on the website and in the mailing lists refers

to the "backend" and many new users are confused by this term.

Matplotlib targets many different use cases and output formats. Some

people use Matplotlib interactively from the Python shell and have

plotting windows pop up when they type commands. Some people run

<a class="reference external" href="https://jupyter.org">Jupyter</a> notebooks and draw inline plots for

quick data analysis. Others embed Matplotlib into graphical user

interfaces like PyQt or PyGObject to build rich applications. Some

people use Matplotlib in batch scripts to generate postscript images

from numerical simulations, and still others run web application

servers to dynamically serve up graphs.</p>

<p>To support all of these use cases, Matplotlib can target different

outputs, and each of these capabilities is called a backend; the

"frontend" is the user facing code, i.e., the plotting code, whereas the

"backend" does all the hard work behind-the-scenes to make the figure.

There are two types of backends: user interface backends (for use in

PyQt/PySide, PyGObject, Tkinter, wxPython, or macOS/Cocoa); also referred to

as "interactive backends") and hardcopy backends to make image files

(PNG, SVG, PDF, PS; also referred to as "non-interactive backends").</p>

</section>

<h2>Selecting a backend<a class="headerlink" href="#selecting-a-backend" title="Permalink to this heading">#</a></h2>

<p>There are three ways to configure your backend:</p>

<li><p>The <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><a class="reference internal" href="../../tutorials/introductory/customizing.html?highlight=backend#matplotlibrc-sample"><span class="std std-ref"><span class="pre">rcParams["backend"]</span></span></a></code> parameter in your <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">matplotlibrc</span></code> file</p></li>

<li><p>The <span class="target" id="index-0"></span><a class="reference internal" href="../faq/environment_variables_faq.html#envvar-MPLBACKEND"><code class="xref std std-envvar docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">MPLBACKEND</span></code></a> environment variable</p></li>

<li><p>The function <a class="reference internal" href="../../api/matplotlib_configuration_api.html#matplotlib.use" title="matplotlib.use"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">matplotlib.use()</span></code></a></p></li>

</ul>

<p>Below is a more detailed description.</p>

<p>If there is more than one configuration present, the last one from the

list takes precedence; e.g. calling <a class="reference internal" href="../../api/matplotlib_configuration_api.html#matplotlib.use" title="matplotlib.use"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">matplotlib.use()</span></code></a> will override

the setting in your <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">matplotlibrc</span></code>.</p>

<p>Without a backend explicitly set, Matplotlib automatically detects a usable

backend based on what is available on your system and on whether a GUI event

loop is already running. The first usable backend in the following list is

selected: MacOSX, QtAgg, GTK4Agg, Gtk3Agg, TkAgg, WxAgg, Agg. The last, Agg,

is a non-interactive backend that can only write to files. It is used on

Linux, if Matplotlib cannot connect to either an X display or a Wayland

display.</p>

<p>Here is a detailed description of the configuration methods:</p>

<li><p>Setting <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><a class="reference internal" href="../../tutorials/introductory/customizing.html?highlight=backend#matplotlibrc-sample"><span class="std std-ref"><span class="pre">rcParams["backend"]</span></span></a></code> in your <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">matplotlibrc</span></code> file:</p>

<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="n">backend</span> <span class="p">:</span> <span class="n">qtagg</span> <span class="c1"># use pyqt with antigrain (agg) rendering</span>

</pre></div>

</div>

<p>See also <a class="reference internal" href="../../tutorials/introductory/customizing.html"><span class="doc">Customizing Matplotlib with style sheets and rcParams</span></a>.</p>

</li>

<li><p>Setting the <span class="target" id="index-1"></span><a class="reference internal" href="../faq/environment_variables_faq.html#envvar-MPLBACKEND"><code class="xref std std-envvar docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">MPLBACKEND</span></code></a> environment variable:</p>

<p>You can set the environment variable either for your current shell or for

a single script.</p>

<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="o">></span> <span class="n">export</span> <span class="n">MPLBACKEND</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="n">qtagg</span>

<span class="o">></span> <span class="n">python</span> <span class="n">simple_plot</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">py</span>

<span class="o">></span> <span class="n">MPLBACKEND</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="n">qtagg</span> <span class="n">python</span> <span class="n">simple_plot</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">py</span>

</pre></div>

</div>

<p>On Windows, only the former is possible:</p>

<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="o">></span> <span class="nb">set</span> <span class="n">MPLBACKEND</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="n">qtagg</span>

<span class="o">></span> <span class="n">python</span> <span class="n">simple_plot</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">py</span>

</pre></div>

</div>

<p>Setting this environment variable will override the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">backend</span></code> parameter

in <em>any</em> <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">matplotlibrc</span></code>, even if there is a <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">matplotlibrc</span></code> in

your current working directory. Therefore, setting <span class="target" id="index-2"></span><a class="reference internal" href="../faq/environment_variables_faq.html#envvar-MPLBACKEND"><code class="xref std std-envvar docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">MPLBACKEND</span></code></a>

globally, e.g. in your <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">.bashrc</span></code> or <code class="file docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">.profile</span></code>, is discouraged

as it might lead to counter-intuitive behavior.</p>

</li>

<li><p>If your script depends on a specific backend you can use the function

<a class="reference internal" href="../../api/matplotlib_configuration_api.html#matplotlib.use" title="matplotlib.use"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">matplotlib.use()</span></code></a>:</p>

<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="kn">import</span> <span class="nn">matplotlib</span>

<span class="n">matplotlib</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">use</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">'qtagg'</span><span class="p">)</span>

</pre></div>

</div>

<p>This should be done before any figure is created, otherwise Matplotlib may

fail to switch the backend and raise an ImportError.</p>

<p>Using <a class="reference internal" href="../../api/matplotlib_configuration_api.html#matplotlib.use" title="matplotlib.use"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">use</span></code></a> will require changes in your code if users want to

use a different backend. Therefore, you should avoid explicitly calling

<a class="reference internal" href="../../api/matplotlib_configuration_api.html#matplotlib.use" title="matplotlib.use"><code class="xref py py-obj docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">use</span></code></a> unless absolutely necessary.</p>

</li>

</ol>

</section>

<span id="id3"></span><h2>The builtin backends<a class="headerlink" href="#the-builtin-backends" title="Permalink to this heading">#</a></h2>

<p>By default, Matplotlib should automatically select a default backend which

allows both interactive work and plotting from scripts, with output to the

screen and/or to a file, so at least initially, you will not need to worry

about the backend. The most common exception is if your Python distribution

comes without <a class="reference external" href="https://docs.python.org/3/library/tkinter.html#module-tkinter" title="(in Python v3.11)"><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">tkinter</span></code></a> and you have no other GUI toolkit installed.

This happens on certain Linux distributions, where you need to install a

Linux package named <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">python-tk</span></code> (or similar).</p>

<p>If, however, you want to write graphical user interfaces, or a web

application server

(<a class="reference internal" href="../../gallery/user_interfaces/web_application_server_sgskip.html"><span class="doc">Embedding in a web application server (Flask)</span></a>), or need a

better understanding of what is going on, read on. To make things easily

more customizable for graphical user interfaces, Matplotlib separates

the concept of the renderer (the thing that actually does the drawing)

from the canvas (the place where the drawing goes). The canonical

renderer for user interfaces is <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Agg</span></code> which uses the <a class="reference external" href="http://agg.sourceforge.net/antigrain.com/">Anti-Grain

Geometry</a> C++ library to make a raster (pixel) image of the figure; it

is used by the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">QtAgg</span></code>, <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">GTK4Agg</span></code>, <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">GTK3Agg</span></code>, <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">wxAgg</span></code>, <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TkAgg</span></code>, and

<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">macosx</span></code> backends. An alternative renderer is based on the Cairo library,

used by <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">QtCairo</span></code>, etc.</p>

<p>For the rendering engines, users can also distinguish between <a class="reference external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vector_graphics">vector</a> or <a class="reference external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raster_graphics">raster</a> renderers. Vector

graphics languages issue drawing commands like "draw a line from this

point to this point" and hence are scale free. Raster backends

generate a pixel representation of the line whose accuracy depends on a

DPI setting.</p>

<p>Here is a summary of the Matplotlib renderers (there is an eponymous

backend for each; these are <em>non-interactive backends</em>, capable of

writing to a file):</p>

<thead>

<tr class="row-odd"><th class="head"><p>Renderer</p></th>

<th class="head"><p>Filetypes</p></th>

<th class="head"><p>Description</p></th>

</tr>

</thead>

<tbody>

<td><p><a class="reference external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raster_graphics">raster</a> graphics -- high quality images using the

<a class="reference external" href="http://agg.sourceforge.net/antigrain.com/">Anti-Grain Geometry</a> engine.</p></td>

</tr>

<td><p><a class="reference external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vector_graphics">vector</a> graphics -- <a class="reference external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portable_Document_Format">Portable Document Format</a> output.</p></td>

</tr>

</tr>

<td><p><a class="reference external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vector_graphics">vector</a> graphics -- <a class="reference external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scalable_Vector_Graphics">Scalable Vector Graphics</a> output.</p></td>

</tr>

<td><p><a class="reference external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vector_graphics">vector</a> graphics -- using the <a class="reference external" href="https://ctan.org/pkg/pgf">pgf</a> package.</p></td>

</tr>

<tr class="row-odd"><td><p>Cairo</p></td>

<td><p>png, ps,

pdf, svg</p></td>

<td><p><a class="reference external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raster_graphics">raster</a> or <a class="reference external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vector_graphics">vector</a> graphics -- using the <a class="reference external" href="https://www.cairographics.org">Cairo</a> library

(requires <a class="reference external" href="https://www.cairographics.org/pycairo/">pycairo</a> or <a class="reference external" href="https://pythonhosted.org/cairocffi/">cairocffi</a>).</p></td>

</tr>

</tbody>

</table>

<p>To save plots using the non-interactive backends, use the

<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">matplotlib.pyplot.savefig('filename')</span></code> method.</p>

<p>These are the user interfaces and renderer combinations supported;

these are <em>interactive backends</em>, capable of displaying to the screen

and using appropriate renderers from the table above to write to

a file:</p>

<thead>

<tr class="row-odd"><th class="head"><p>Backend</p></th>

<th class="head"><p>Description</p></th>

</tr>

</thead>

<tbody>

<tr class="row-even"><td><p>QtAgg</p></td>

<td><p>Agg rendering in a <a class="reference external" href="https://qt.io/">Qt</a> canvas (requires <a class="reference external" href="https://riverbankcomputing.com/software/pyqt/intro">PyQt</a> or <a class="reference external" href="https://doc.qt.io/qtforpython/">Qt for Python</a>,

a.k.a. PySide). This backend can be activated in IPython with

<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">%matplotlib</span> <span class="pre">qt</span></code>.</p></td>

</tr>

<tr class="row-odd"><td><p>ipympl</p></td>

<td><p>Agg rendering embedded in a Jupyter widget (requires <a class="reference external" href="https://www.matplotlib.org/ipympl">ipympl</a>).

This backend can be enabled in a Jupyter notebook with

<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">%matplotlib</span> <span class="pre">ipympl</span></code>.</p></td>

</tr>

<td><p>Agg rendering to a <a class="reference external" href="https://www.gtk.org/">GTK</a> 3.x canvas (requires <a class="reference external" href="https://wiki.gnome.org/action/show/Projects/PyGObject">PyGObject</a> and

<a class="reference external" href="https://www.cairographics.org/pycairo/">pycairo</a>). This backend can be activated in IPython with

<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">%matplotlib</span> <span class="pre">gtk3</span></code>.</p></td>

</tr>

<td><p>Agg rendering to a <a class="reference external" href="https://www.gtk.org/">GTK</a> 4.x canvas (requires <a class="reference external" href="https://wiki.gnome.org/action/show/Projects/PyGObject">PyGObject</a> and

<a class="reference external" href="https://www.cairographics.org/pycairo/">pycairo</a>). This backend can be activated in IPython with

<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">%matplotlib</span> <span class="pre">gtk4</span></code>.</p></td>

</tr>

<tr class="row-even"><td><p>macosx</p></td>

<td><p>Agg rendering into a Cocoa canvas in OSX. This backend can be

activated in IPython with <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">%matplotlib</span> <span class="pre">osx</span></code>.</p></td>

</tr>

<tr class="row-odd"><td><p>TkAgg</p></td>

<td><p>Agg rendering to a <a class="reference external" href="https://www.tcl.tk/">Tk</a> canvas (requires <a class="reference external" href="https://docs.python.org/3/library/tk.html">TkInter</a>). This

backend can be activated in IPython with <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">%matplotlib</span> <span class="pre">tk</span></code>.</p></td>

</tr>

<tr class="row-even"><td><p>nbAgg</p></td>

<td><p>Embed an interactive figure in a Jupyter classic notebook. This

backend can be enabled in Jupyter notebooks via

<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">%matplotlib</span> <span class="pre">notebook</span></code>.</p></td>

</tr>

<tr class="row-odd"><td><p>WebAgg</p></td>

<td><p>On <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">show()</span></code> will start a tornado server with an interactive

figure.</p></td>

</tr>

<tr class="row-even"><td><p>GTK3Cairo</p></td>

<td><p>Cairo rendering to a <a class="reference external" href="https://www.gtk.org/">GTK</a> 3.x canvas (requires <a class="reference external" href="https://wiki.gnome.org/action/show/Projects/PyGObject">PyGObject</a> and

<a class="reference external" href="https://www.cairographics.org/pycairo/">pycairo</a>).</p></td>

</tr>

<tr class="row-odd"><td><p>GTK4Cairo</p></td>

<td><p>Cairo rendering to a <a class="reference external" href="https://www.gtk.org/">GTK</a> 4.x canvas (requires <a class="reference external" href="https://wiki.gnome.org/action/show/Projects/PyGObject">PyGObject</a> and

<a class="reference external" href="https://www.cairographics.org/pycairo/">pycairo</a>).</p></td>

</tr>

<tr class="row-even"><td><p>wxAgg</p></td>

<td><p>Agg rendering to a <a class="reference external" href="https://www.wxwidgets.org/">wxWidgets</a> canvas (requires <a class="reference external" href="https://www.wxpython.org/">wxPython</a> 4).

This backend can be activated in IPython with <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">%matplotlib</span> <span class="pre">wx</span></code>.</p></td>

</tr>

</tbody>

</table>

<p>The names of builtin backends case-insensitive; e.g., 'QtAgg' and

'qtagg' are equivalent.</p>

</div>

<h3>ipympl<a class="headerlink" href="#id4" title="Permalink to this heading">#</a></h3>

<p>The Jupyter widget ecosystem is moving too fast to support directly in

Matplotlib. To install ipympl:</p>

<div class="highlight-bash notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>pip install ipympl

</pre></div>

</div>

<div class="highlight-bash notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>conda install ipympl -c conda-forge

</pre></div>

</div>

<p>See <a class="reference external" href="https://matplotlib.org/ipympl/installing.html">installing ipympl</a> for more details.</p>

</section>

<span id="qt-api-usage"></span><h3>How do I select the Qt implementation?<a class="headerlink" href="#how-do-i-select-the-qt-implementation" title="Permalink to this heading">#</a></h3>

<p>The QtAgg and QtCairo backends support both Qt 5 and 6, as well as both Python

bindings (<a class="reference external" href="https://riverbankcomputing.com/software/pyqt/intro">PyQt</a> or <a class="reference external" href="https://doc.qt.io/qtforpython/">Qt for Python</a>, a.k.a. PySide). If any binding has

already been loaded, then it will be used for the Qt backend. Otherwise, the

first available binding is used, in the order: PyQt6, PySide6, PyQt5, PySide2.</p>

<p>The <span class="target" id="index-3"></span><a class="reference internal" href="../faq/environment_variables_faq.html#envvar-QT_API"><code class="xref std std-envvar docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">QT_API</span></code></a> environment variable can be set to override the search

when nothing has already been loaded. It may be set to (case-insensitively)

PyQt6, PySide6, PyQt5, or PySide2 to pick the version and binding to use. If

the chosen implementation is unavailable, the Qt backend will fail to load

without attempting any other Qt implementations. See <a class="reference internal" href="../../api/backend_qt_api.html#qt-bindings"><span class="std std-ref">Qt Bindings</span></a> for

more details.</p>

</section>

<h2>Using non-builtin backends<a class="headerlink" href="#using-non-builtin-backends" title="Permalink to this heading">#</a></h2>

<p>More generally, any importable backend can be selected by using any of the

methods above. If <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">name.of.the.backend</span></code> is the module containing the

backend, use <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">module://name.of.the.backend</span></code> as the backend name, e.g.

<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">matplotlib.use('module://name.of.the.backend')</span></code>.</p>

</section>

</article>

</div>

<i class="fa-solid fa-list"></i> On this page

</div>

What is a backend?

</a>

</li>

Selecting a backend

</a>

</li>

The builtin backends

</a>

ipympl

</a>

</li>

How do I select the Qt implementation?

</a>

</li>

</ul>

</li>

Using non-builtin backends

</a>

</li>

</ul>

</nav>

</div>

</div>

</footer>

</main>

</div>

<div id="unreleased-message"> You are reading an old version of the documentation (v3.6.2). For the latest version see <a href="https://matplotlib.org/stable/users/explain/backends.html">https://matplotlib.org/stable/users/explain/backends.html</a></div>

</p>

</div>

Created using <a href="http://sphinx-doc.org/">Sphinx</a> 5.3.0.<br>

</p>

</div>

</footer>

</body>

</html>

Provide feedback

Saved searches

Use saved searches to filter your results more quickly

FilesExpand file tree

backends.html

Latest commit

History

backends.html

File metadata and controls