matplotlib changed rendering style unexpectedly in jupyter-notebook

Question

My matplotlib plots have changed styles unexpectedly. I am trying to pin down what I did to change them. My best guess is that I changed matplotlib versions, or I'm possibly am using a different backend.

A histogram plot currently looks like this:

They used to look like this (nice defined border lines between the bars):

I have made no changes to the code that generates the plots, but I have mucked with import statements, and re-installed various components of anaconda, including matplotlib for unrelated reasons.

Also see http://stackoverflow.com/questions/43080259/no-outlines-on-bins-of-matplotlib-histograms-or-seaborn-distplots — ImportanceOfBeingErnest, Apr 11 '17 at 08:13

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 11 '17 at 02:17

1

Earlier this year, matplotlib changed their defaults. You want the edgecolor param.

plt.hist(np.random.norma(0,1,100), edgecolor='k')

You can use a classic style by passing plt.style.use('classic').

answered Apr 11 '17 at 02:17

Demetri Pananos

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score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 11 '17 at 08:12

Starting from matplotlib version 2.0, patches do not have edges anymore. See the Changes to the default style.

Options to set edges back on:

Use the edgecolor argument of the artist. E.g.
```
plt.bar(...., edgecolor="k")
```
Use the rcParams to globally set edges,
```
plt.rcParams['patch.force_edgecolor'] = True
```
or edit you matplotlibrc file accordingly.
Turn the old style on again, using
```
plt.style.use('classic')
```

matplotlib changed rendering style unexpectedly in jupyter-notebook

2 Answers2