python - How to load .ttf file in matplotlib using mpl.rcParams?

Question

I have a matplotlib script that starts ...

import matplotlib as mpl
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import matplotlib.font_manager as fm

mpl.rcParams['xtick.labelsize']=16 
...

I've used the command

fm.findSystemFonts()

to get a list of the fonts on my system. I've discovered the full path to a .ttf file I'd like to use,

'/usr/share/fonts/truetype/anonymous-pro/Anonymous Pro BI.ttf'

I've tried to use this font without success using the following commands

mpl.rcParams['font.family'] = 'anonymous-pro'  

and

mpl.rcParams['font.family'] = 'Anonymous Pro BI'

which both return something like

/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.7/matplotlib/font_manager.py:1218: UserWarning: findfont: Font family ['anonymous-pro'] not found. Falling back to Bitstream Vera Sans

Can I use the mpl.rcParams dictionary to set this font in my plots?

EDIT

After reading a bit more, it seems this is a general problem of determining the font family name from a .ttf file. Is this easy to do in linux or python ?

In addition, I've tried adding

mpl.use['agg']
mpl.rcParams['text.usetex'] = False

without any success

Answer 1

Specifying a font family:

If all you know is the path to the ttf, then you can discover the font family name using the get_name method:

import matplotlib as mpl
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import matplotlib.font_manager as font_manager

path = '/usr/share/fonts/truetype/msttcorefonts/Comic_Sans_MS.ttf'
prop = font_manager.FontProperties(fname=path)
mpl.rcParams['font.family'] = prop.get_name()
fig, ax = plt.subplots()
ax.set_title('Text in a cool font', size=40)
plt.show()

---

Specifying a font by path:

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import matplotlib.font_manager as font_manager

path = '/usr/share/fonts/truetype/msttcorefonts/Comic_Sans_MS.ttf'
prop = font_manager.FontProperties(fname=path)
fig, ax = plt.subplots()
ax.set_title('Text in a cool font', fontproperties=prop, size=40)
plt.show()