Save a Matplotlib plot to a file in Python
David Y.
The Problem
How can I save a plot created with Matplotlib to an image file instead of displaying it?
The Solution
We can do this using the savefig function:
from matplotlib import pyplot pyplot.savefig("myPlot.png", bbox_inches="tight")
This function will save the current plot as a PNG image file. By specifying a different file extension, we could instead save it as an SVG (.svg), PostScript file (.ps), or PDF (.pdf).
The argument bbox_inches="tight" ensures that the image is saved without surrounding whitespace. Additional arguments can be specified to change the colors and transparency of the saved image.
Note that pyplot.show clears the current plot, and should therefore only be called after pyplot.savefig, to avoid saving a blank image.
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