matplotlib configuration for inline backend in jupyter notebook

Question

I'd like to learn how to configure the defaults for matplotlib using the inline backend in jupyter notebook. Specifically, I'd like to set default 'figure.figsize’ to [7.5, 5.0] instead of the default [6.0, 4.0]. I’m using jupyter notebook 1.1 on a Mac with matplotlib 1.4.3.

In the notebook, using the macosx backend, my matplotlibrc file is shown to be in the standard location, and figsize is set as specified in matplotlibrc:

In [1]: %matplotlib
Using matplotlib backend: MacOSX

In [2]: mpl.matplotlib_fname()
Out[2]: u'/Users/scott/.matplotlib/matplotlibrc'

In [3]: matplotlib.rcParams['figure.figsize']
Out[3]:[7.5, 5.0]

However, when I use the inline backend, figsize is set differently:

In [1]: %matplotlib inline

In [2]: mpl.matplotlib_fname()
Out[2]: u'/Users/scott/.matplotlib/matplotlibrc'

In [3]: matplotlib.rcParams['figure.figsize']
Out[3]:[6.0, 4.0]

In my notebook config file, ~/.jupyter/jupyter_notebook_config.py, I also added the line

c.InlineBackend.rc = {'figure.figsize': (7.5, 5.0) }

but this had no effect either. For now I’m stuck adding this line in every notebook:

matplotlib.rcParams['figure.figsize']=[7.5, 5.0]

Is there any way to set the default for the inline backend?

Answer 1

The Jupyter/IPython split is confusing. Jupyter is the front end to kernels, of which IPython is the defacto Python kernel. You are trying to change something related to matplotlib and this only makes sense within the scope of the IPython kernel. Making a change to matplotlib in ~/.jupyter/jupyter_notebook_config.py would apply to all kernels which may not make sense (in the case of running a Ruby/R/Bash/etc. kernel which doesn't use matplotlib). Therefore, your c.InlineBackend.rc setting needs to go in the settings for the IPython kernel.

Edit the file ~/.ipython/profile_default/ipython_kernel_config.py and add to the bottom: c.InlineBackend.rc = { }.

Since c.InlineBackend.rc specifies matplotlib config overrides, the blank dict tells the IPython kernel not to override any of your .matplotlibrc settings.

If the file doesn't exist, run ipython profile create to create it.