How to update a plot in matplotlib?

Question

I\'m having issues with redrawing the figure here. I allow the user to specify the units in the time scale (x-axis) and then I recalculate and call this function plots

Answer 1

I have released a package called python-drawnow that provides functionality to let a figure update, typically called within a for loop, similar to Matlab's drawnow.

An example usage:

from pylab import figure, plot, ion, linspace, arange, sin, pi
def draw_fig():
    # can be arbitrarily complex; just to draw a figure
    #figure() # don't call!
    plot(t, x)
    #show() # don't call!

N = 1e3
figure() # call here instead!
ion()    # enable interactivity
t = linspace(0, 2*pi, num=N)
for i in arange(100):
    x = sin(2 * pi * i**2 * t / 100.0)
    drawnow(draw_fig)

This package works with any matplotlib figure and provides options to wait after each figure update or drop into the debugger.