Troubleshooting

Obtaining Matplotlib version

To find out your Matplotlib version number, import it and print the __version__ attribute:

>>> import matplotlib
>>> matplotlib.__version__
'0.98.0'

matplotlib install location

You can find what directory Matplotlib is installed in by importing it and printing the __file__ attribute:

>>> import matplotlib
>>> matplotlib.__file__
'/home/jdhunter/dev/lib64/python2.5/site-packages/matplotlib/__init__.pyc'

matplotlib configuration and cache directory locations

Each user has a Matplotlib configuration directory which may contain a matplotlibrc file. To locate your matplotlib/ configuration directory, use matplotlib.get_configdir:

>>> import matplotlib as mpl
>>> mpl.get_configdir()
'/home/darren/.config/matplotlib'

On Unix-like systems, this directory is generally located in your HOME directory under the .config/ directory.

In addition, users have a cache directory. On Unix-like systems, this is separate from the configuration directory by default. To locate your .cache/ directory, use matplotlib.get_cachedir:

>>> import matplotlib as mpl
>>> mpl.get_cachedir()
'/home/darren/.cache/matplotlib'

On Windows, both the config directory and the cache directory are the same and are in your Documents and Settings or Users directory by default:

>>> import matplotlib as mpl
>>> mpl.get_configdir()
'C:\\Documents and Settings\\jdhunter\\.matplotlib'
>>> mpl.get_cachedir()
'C:\\Documents and Settings\\jdhunter\\.matplotlib'

If you would like to use a different configuration directory, you can do so by specifying the location in your MPLCONFIGDIR environment variable – see Setting environment variables in Linux and macOS. Note that MPLCONFIGDIR sets the location of both the configuration directory and the cache directory.