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

Question 1

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 pops up when you plot something in a terminal Python console). How could I do that? Preferably without leaving or restarting my notebook.

The problem with inline plots in IPy notebook is that they are of a limited resolution and I can’t zoom into them to see some smaller parts. With the maptlotlib GUI that starts from a terminal, I can select a rectangle of the graph that I want to zoom into and the axes adjust accordingly. I tried experimenting with

from matplotlib import interactive
interactive(True)

and

interactive(False)

but that didn’t do anything. I couldn’t find any hint online either.

Question 2

According to the documentation, you should be able to switch back and forth like this:

In [2]: %matplotlib inline 
In [3]: plot(...)

In [4]: %matplotlib qt  # wx, gtk, osx, tk, empty uses default
In [5]: plot(...)

and that will pop up a regular plot window (a restart on the notebook may be necessary).

I hope this helps.

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