List of all available matplotlib backends

Question

The current backend name is accessible via

>>> import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
>>> plt.get_backend()
\'GTKAgg\'

Is there a way to get a list of all ba

Answer 1

There is the hard-coded list mentioned by Sven, but to find every backend which Matplotlib can use (based on the current implementation for setting up a backend) the matplotlib/backends folder can be inspected.

The following code does this:

import matplotlib.backends
import os.path

def is_backend_module(fname):
    """Identifies if a filename is a matplotlib backend module"""
    return fname.startswith('backend_') and fname.endswith('.py')

def backend_fname_formatter(fname): 
    """Removes the extension of the given filename, then takes away the leading 'backend_'."""
    return os.path.splitext(fname)[0][8:]

# get the directory where the backends live
backends_dir = os.path.dirname(matplotlib.backends.__file__)

# filter all files in that directory to identify all files which provide a backend
backend_fnames = filter(is_backend_module, os.listdir(backends_dir))

backends = [backend_fname_formatter(fname) for fname in backend_fnames]

print backends