How to maximize a plt.show() window

Question

Just for curiosity I would like to know how to do this in the code below. I have been searching for an answer but is useless.

import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
data=np.random.exponential(scale=180, size=10000)
print ('el valor medio de la distribucion exponencial es: ')
print np.average(data)
plt.hist(data,bins=len(data)**0.5,normed=True, cumulative=True, facecolor='red', label='datos tamano paqutes acumulativa', alpha=0.5)
plt.legend()
plt.xlabel('algo')
plt.ylabel('algo')
plt.grid()
plt.show()

score 203 · Answer 1 · edited Dec 24 '22 at 09:04

203

I am on a Windows (WIN7), running Python 2.7.5 & Matplotlib 1.3.1.

I was able to maximize Figure windows for TkAgg, QT4Agg, and wxAgg using the following lines:

from matplotlib import pyplot as plt

### for 'TkAgg' backend
plt.figure(1)
plt.switch_backend('TkAgg') #TkAgg (instead Qt4Agg)
print '#1 Backend:',plt.get_backend()
plt.plot([1,2,6,4])
mng = plt.get_current_fig_manager()
### works on Ubuntu??? >> did NOT working on windows
# mng.resize(*mng.window.maxsize())
mng.window.state('zoomed') #works fine on Windows!
plt.show() #close the figure to run the next section

### for 'wxAgg' backend
plt.figure(2)
plt.switch_backend('wxAgg')
print '#2 Backend:',plt.get_backend()
plt.plot([1,2,6,4])
mng = plt.get_current_fig_manager()
mng.frame.Maximize(True)
plt.show() #close the figure to run the next section

### for 'Qt4Agg' backend
plt.figure(3)
plt.switch_backend('QT4Agg') #default on my system
print '#3 Backend:',plt.get_backend()
plt.plot([1,2,6,4])
figManager = plt.get_current_fig_manager()
figManager.window.showMaximized()
plt.show()

if you want to maximize multiple figures you can use

for fig in figs:
    mng = fig.canvas.manager
    # ...

Hope this summary of the previous answers (and some additions) combined in a working example (at least for windows) helps.

edited Dec 24 '22 at 09:04

starball

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answered Mar 15 '14 at 01:12

Pythonio

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### works on Ubuntu??? >> did NOT working on windows mng.resize(*mng.window.maxsize()) #works perfect on linux for me – Daniele Jun 07 '15 at 16:47
1

@Daniele, your solution works for me on TkAgg on Ubuntu. Thanks! But it took me a while to parse ;) Maybe get rid of everything before "mng.resize...". – BenB Oct 04 '15 at 07:09
1

Is there an easy way to check what backend you are using? kinda used trial end error now. – Rutger Hofste Jun 08 '16 at 21:00
2

Unfortunately, I tried your code with Qt5Agg, when I type in `figManager.window.showMaximized()`, the maximized fullscreen window just poped up. The next line: `plt.show()` just show another window which plots the data in a normal size window. – StayFoolish Apr 27 '17 at 03:43
4

The Tk based solution does not work for me: `_tkinter.TclError: bad argument "zoomed": must be normal, iconic, or withdrawn` (Ubuntu 16.04). – bluenote10 Jul 03 '18 at 12:22
On my Ubuntu (16.04) machine I use `mng = plt.get_current_fig_manager()` `mng.full_screen_toggle()` – Westly White Nov 19 '19 at 21:12
The Qt4Agg solution works for me using Cygwin, with Qt5. – Jeff Learman Nov 25 '19 at 14:48
Worked for me (Python 3.6.5, TkInter, Windows 10) – jwav Feb 25 '20 at 09:56
On my Mint 20.2 mng.window.showMaximized() worked just fine, thanks. – khaz Feb 16 '22 at 04:55

score 103 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 16 '13 at 09:39

103

With Qt backend (FigureManagerQT) proper command is:

figManager = plt.get_current_fig_manager()
figManager.window.showMaximized()

answered Sep 16 '13 at 09:39

kwerenda

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This still requires `plt.show()` afterwards. Great answer though, works on windows! – lucidbrot Sep 24 '18 at 07:39
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'_tkinter.tkapp' object has bi attribute 'showMaximized'. Always more convinced that Python is a joke more than a language – HAL9000 Sep 11 '19 at 15:46
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@HAL9000 First, this is for Qt4, not Tk. Second, you're blaming a language for what is an external package design issue. You can have this kind of issue in any language. – Jeff Learman Nov 25 '19 at 14:46
10

I get `AttributeError: '_tkinter.tkapp' object has no attribute 'showMaximized'` on Windows. – Basj Nov 09 '20 at 11:48
Works with the PyQt5 backend for me. – Stefan Jan 21 '21 at 17:34
Note that if you do a `savefig` command directly after the maximization of the plot, then the stored image wont be in full screen. Add a `plt.pause(1)` to it to make sure that the operation was performed succesfully – zwep Jul 19 '21 at 11:35

score 57 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 26 '13 at 13:10

57

This makes the window take up the full screen for me, under Ubuntu 12.04 with the TkAgg backend:

    mng = plt.get_current_fig_manager()
    mng.resize(*mng.window.maxsize())

answered Jan 26 '13 at 13:10

Dan Christensen

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Note that this has weird effects on a multiple monitors setup. The window will use up all monitors, instead of being maximized. – user1202136 Apr 17 '13 at 14:08
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This will not create a maximized window (which should snap to the edges of the screen), but create a non-maximized window with the size of a maximized one. – HelloGoodbye Feb 06 '17 at 11:45
This successfully maximizes the window in Ubuntu 14.04 too, keeping the top bar with the buttons we all know. – Irene Jun 12 '17 at 13:25
Works on Ubuntu 16.04 and linux mint. python2.7 tested – user1941407 Aug 11 '18 at 22:04
@user1202136 Worked fine for me in a 3-monitor setup. – Michael Litvin Jan 17 '20 at 12:19
this is what i'm looking for...worked perfect on windows 10 – HoseinGhanbari May 07 '20 at 14:16

score 49 · Answer 4 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:26

49

This should work (at least with TkAgg):

wm = plt.get_current_fig_manager()
wm.window.state('zoomed')

(adopted from the above and Using Tkinter, is there a way to get the usable screen size without visibly zooming a window?)

edited May 23 '17 at 12:26

Community

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answered Nov 06 '13 at 22:08

dan

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Yay! This worked for me; it creates a maximized window that snaps to the edges of the screen and has the minimize, maximize/restore down and close buttons as it should. – HelloGoodbye Feb 06 '17 at 11:53
1

However, you mean that this works with `TkAgg`, not `TkApp`, right? – HelloGoodbye Feb 08 '17 at 15:42
Good catch (probably a typo)! TkAgg is a backend for Tk. – dan Feb 16 '17 at 21:51
4

Just tested this for matplotlib 2 / python 3 . Works under windows! – not_a_bot_no_really_82353 Mar 29 '20 at 16:43
1

Alas, does not work on Debian linux, which doesn't have the 'zoomed' state. – David Roundy Apr 09 '21 at 16:44
1

This is the solution that worked for me on Windows 11 with the default matplotlib installation. – Zciurus Jan 12 '23 at 11:06

score 47 · Answer 5 · answered May 20 '14 at 08:59

47

For me nothing of the above worked. I use the Tk backend on Ubuntu 14.04 which contains matplotlib 1.3.1.

The following code creates a fullscreen plot window which is not the same as maximizing but it serves my purpose nicely:

from matplotlib import pyplot as plt
mng = plt.get_current_fig_manager()
mng.full_screen_toggle()
plt.show()

answered May 20 '14 at 08:59

peschü

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This was also the solution that worked for me (although it goes to full screen, not maximised window). Running on Redhat Enterprise Linux 6, python 2.7.10, matplotlib 1.4.3. – Vahid S. Bokharaie Sep 09 '15 at 08:25
1

Worked for me within Visual Studio 2015 on Windows 10 x64, python 3.5 except that I could not access the window border to close the figure, as it was above the top screen pixels. – lightw8 Aug 20 '16 at 00:26
2

For me, this doesn't create a maximized window either, but a fullscreen one. I didn't get any minimize, maximize/restore down and close buttons as normal windows have and I had to right-click on the window on the taskbar to be able to close it. – HelloGoodbye Feb 06 '17 at 11:51
3

This goes full screen without showing the buttons that every window has. Tried on Ubuntu 14.04. – Irene Jun 12 '17 at 13:28
1

Working like a charm on Raspbian (jessie) – anatol Jul 09 '17 at 22:54
It works fullscreen as others said, but on my multi-monitor setup goes onto a different monitor than is currently in use, which makes it non-functional for me. – David Roundy Apr 09 '21 at 16:46

score 45 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 11:47

45

I usually use

mng = plt.get_current_fig_manager()
mng.frame.Maximize(True)

before the call to plt.show(), and I get a maximized window. This works for the 'wx' backend only.

EDIT:

for Qt4Agg backend, see kwerenda's answer.

edited May 23 '17 at 11:47

Community

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answered Sep 26 '12 at 09:53

gg349

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Using this, I get `mng.frame.Maximize(True) AttributeError: FigureManagerTkAgg instance has no attribute 'frame'` in Matplotlib 1.2.0 – Junuxx Dec 07 '12 at 14:01
2

It works with backend wx, I've updated the post accordingly. Likely the Tk backend you are using doesn't support this feature. Do you have the option to change matplotlib backend to 'wx'? – gg349 Dec 10 '12 at 07:45
14

error on mac: mng.frame.Maximize(True) AttributeError: 'FigureManagerMac' object has no attribute 'frame' – user391339 Jun 14 '16 at 15:53
10

Is there a known solution to do this on the `MacOSX`backend? The `FigureManagerMac` seems to have neither the attribute `window`nor `frame`. – McLawrence Feb 18 '18 at 18:23
4

I have the same issue on Windows – RollRoll Nov 24 '18 at 20:46
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the OO interface: ```fig, ax = plt.subplots(1, 1) fig.canvas.manager.window.showMaximized()``` works in Qt5, couldn't get the 'WX' work on my machine – Assaf-ge May 04 '20 at 08:56
Similar error, like first comment. **AttributeError: 'FigureManagerQT' object has no attribute 'frame'**. – Mello Mar 05 '21 at 17:15
Same issue on Ubuntu: mng.frame.Maximize(True) AttributeError: 'FigureManagerTk' object has no attribute 'frame' – Salma Tofaily Feb 13 '22 at 08:34

score 17 · Answer 7 · edited Jun 13 '21 at 08:54

My best effort so far, supporting different backends:

from platform import system
def plt_maximize():
    # See discussion: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/12439588/how-to-maximize-a-plt-show-window-using-python
    backend = plt.get_backend()
    cfm = plt.get_current_fig_manager()
    if backend == "wxAgg":
        cfm.frame.Maximize(True)
    elif backend == "TkAgg":
        if system() == "Windows":
            cfm.window.state("zoomed")  # This is windows only
        else:
            cfm.resize(*cfm.window.maxsize())
    elif backend == "QT4Agg":
        cfm.window.showMaximized()
    elif callable(getattr(cfm, "full_screen_toggle", None)):
        if not getattr(cfm, "flag_is_max", None):
            cfm.full_screen_toggle()
            cfm.flag_is_max = True
    else:
        raise RuntimeError("plt_maximize() is not implemented for current backend:", backend)

Westly White · Answer 8 · 2019-05-14T14:00:46.703

11

I found this for full screen mode on Ubuntu

#Show full screen
mng = plt.get_current_fig_manager()
mng.full_screen_toggle()

edited May 14 '19 at 14:00

answered Mar 09 '19 at 19:25

Westly White

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score 10 · Answer 9 · answered Dec 17 '13 at 00:06

10

I get mng.frame.Maximize(True) AttributeError: FigureManagerTkAgg instance has no attribute 'frame' as well.

Then I looked through the attributes mng has, and I found this:

mng.window.showMaximized()

That worked for me.

So for people who have the same trouble, you may try this.

By the way, my Matplotlib version is 1.3.1.

answered Dec 17 '13 at 00:06

Alan Wang

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Thanks! This solution worked well for me. Running on Redhat Enterprise Linux 6, python 2.7.10, matplotlib 1.4.3. – Vahid S. Bokharaie Sep 09 '15 at 08:31
I know this will pop up a fullscreen window, but my plots will come up in a separate window when I type `plt.show()`. Not on this fullscreen window, any suggestion? – StayFoolish Apr 27 '17 at 03:45
It also works on python 3.6 on Debian and with Qt backend. – pbalaga Jan 05 '19 at 19:44
this does not run on windows 10 64bit with python 3.7 – George Sp Jan 26 '19 at 15:04

score 10 · Answer 10 · answered Dec 02 '16 at 10:37

This is kind of hacky and probably not portable, only use it if you're looking for quick and dirty. If I just set the figure much bigger than the screen, it takes exactly the whole screen.

fig = figure(figsize=(80, 60))

In fact, in Ubuntu 16.04 with Qt4Agg, it maximizes the window (not full-screen) if it's bigger than the screen. (If you have two monitors, it just maximizes it on one of them).

score 9 · Answer 11 · answered Nov 23 '18 at 15:21

9

The one solution that worked on Win 10 flawlessly.

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

plt.plot(x_data, y_data)

mng = plt.get_current_fig_manager()
mng.window.state("zoomed")
plt.show()

answered Nov 23 '18 at 15:21

Zeds Zen

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score 8 · Answer 12 · answered Mar 31 '20 at 12:57

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
def maximize():
    plot_backend = plt.get_backend()
    mng = plt.get_current_fig_manager()
    if plot_backend == 'TkAgg':
        mng.resize(*mng.window.maxsize())
    elif plot_backend == 'wxAgg':
        mng.frame.Maximize(True)
    elif plot_backend == 'Qt4Agg':
        mng.window.showMaximized()

Then call function maximize() before plt.show()

shredEngineer · Answer 13 · 2022-09-26T14:51:01.103

6

For backend GTK3Agg, use maximize() – notably with a lower case m:

manager = plt.get_current_fig_manager()
manager.window.maximize()

Tested in Ubuntu 20.04 with Python 3.8.

edited Sep 26 '22 at 14:51

answered Sep 11 '20 at 19:00

shredEngineer

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score 3 · Answer 14 · answered Sep 16 '12 at 07:14

3

Pressing the f key (or ctrl+f in 1.2rc1) when focussed on a plot will fullscreen a plot window. Not quite maximising, but perhaps better.

Other than that, to actually maximize, you will need to use GUI Toolkit specific commands (if they exist for your specific backend).

HTH

answered Sep 16 '12 at 07:14

pelson

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This explains which key I kept accidentally hitting that fullscreened my windows! (And how to undo it.) – cxrodgers Jul 06 '15 at 18:28

score 3 · Answer 15 · answered Sep 26 '19 at 00:44

Here is a function based on @Pythonio's answer. I encapsulate it into a function that automatically detects which backend is it using and do the corresponding actions.

def plt_set_fullscreen():
    backend = str(plt.get_backend())
    mgr = plt.get_current_fig_manager()
    if backend == 'TkAgg':
        if os.name == 'nt':
            mgr.window.state('zoomed')
        else:
            mgr.resize(*mgr.window.maxsize())
    elif backend == 'wxAgg':
        mgr.frame.Maximize(True)
    elif backend == 'Qt4Agg':
        mgr.window.showMaximized()

score 2 · Answer 16 · edited Jan 03 '19 at 15:14

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Try using 'Figure.set_size_inches' method, with the extra keyword argument forward=True. According to the documentation, this should resize the figure window.

Whether that actually happens will depend on the operating system you are using.

edited Jan 03 '19 at 15:14

SiHa

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answered Sep 16 '12 at 15:43

Roland Smith

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score 2 · Answer 17 · answered Apr 18 '18 at 06:35

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In my versions (Python 3.6, Eclipse, Windows 7), snippets given above didn't work, but with hints given by Eclipse/pydev (after typing: mng.), I found:

mng.full_screen_toggle()

It seems that using mng-commands is ok only for local development...

answered Apr 18 '18 at 06:35

Antti A

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score 1 · Answer 18 · answered Sep 15 '12 at 17:37

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Try plt.figure(figsize=(6*3.13,4*3.13)) to make the plot larger.

answered Sep 15 '12 at 17:37

Navin

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ArmandduPlessis · Answer 19 · 2016-11-05T10:55:10.097

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Ok so this is what worked for me. I did the whole showMaximize() option and it does resize your window in proportion to the size of the figure, but it does not expand and 'fit' the canvas. I solved this by:

mng = plt.get_current_fig_manager()                                         
mng.window.showMaximized()
plt.tight_layout()    
plt.savefig('Images/SAVES_PIC_AS_PDF.pdf') 

plt.show()

edited Nov 05 '16 at 10:55

answered Nov 05 '16 at 10:42

ArmandduPlessis

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score 1 · Answer 20 · answered Sep 23 '20 at 22:00

For Tk-based backend (TkAgg), these two options maximize & fullscreen the window:

plt.get_current_fig_manager().window.state('zoomed')
plt.get_current_fig_manager().window.attributes('-fullscreen', True)

When plotting into multiple windows, you need to write this for each window:

data = rasterio.open(filepath)

blue, green, red, nir = data.read()
plt.figure(1)
plt.subplot(121); plt.imshow(blue);
plt.subplot(122); plt.imshow(red);
plt.get_current_fig_manager().window.state('zoomed')

rgb = np.dstack((red, green, blue))
nrg = np.dstack((nir, red, green))
plt.figure(2)
plt.subplot(121); plt.imshow(rgb);
plt.subplot(122); plt.imshow(nrg);
plt.get_current_fig_manager().window.state('zoomed')

plt.show()

Here, both 'figures' are plotted in separate windows. Using a variable such as

figure_manager = plt.get_current_fig_manager()

might not maximize the second window, since the variable still refers to the first window.

UCDS · Answer 21 · 2022-03-01T23:28:42.997

I collected a few answers from the threads I was looking at when trying to achieve the same thing. This is the function I am using right now which maximizes all plots and doesn't really care about the backend being used. I run it at the end of the script. It does still run into the problem mentioned by others using multiscreen setups, in that fm.window.maxsize() will get the total screen size rather than just that of the current monitor. If you know the screensize you want them you can replace *fm.window.maxsize() with the tuple (width_inches, height_inches).

Functionally all this does is grab a list of figures, and resize them to matplotlibs current interpretation of the current maximum window size.

def maximizeAllFigures():
    '''
    Maximizes all matplotlib plots.
    '''
    for i in plt.get_fignums():
        plt.figure(i)
        fm = plt.get_current_fig_manager()
        fm.resize(*fm.window.maxsize())

score 1 · Answer 22 · answered Oct 12 '22 at 18:52

I have tried most of above solutions but none of them works well on my Windows 10 with Python 3.10.5.

Below is what I found that works perfectly on my side.

import ctypes

mng = plt.get_current_fig_manager()
mng.resize(ctypes.windll.user32.GetSystemMetrics(0), ctypes.windll.user32.GetSystemMetrics(1))

score 0 · Answer 23 · answered May 28 '14 at 05:43

This doesn't necessarily maximize your window, but it does resize your window in proportion to the size of the figure:

from matplotlib import pyplot as plt
F = gcf()
Size = F.get_size_inches()
F.set_size_inches(Size[0]*2, Size[1]*2, forward=True)#Set forward to True to resize window along with plot in figure.
plt.show() #or plt.imshow(z_array) if using an animation, where z_array is a matrix or numpy array

This might also help: http://matplotlib.1069221.n5.nabble.com/Resizing-figure-windows-td11424.html

score 0 · Answer 24 · answered Feb 10 '16 at 08:46

The following may work with all the backends, but I tested it only on QT:

import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import time

plt.switch_backend('QT4Agg') #default on my system
print('Backend: {}'.format(plt.get_backend()))

fig = plt.figure()
ax = fig.add_axes([0,0, 1,1])
ax.axis([0,10, 0,10])
ax.plot(5, 5, 'ro')

mng = plt._pylab_helpers.Gcf.figs.get(fig.number, None)

mng.window.showMaximized() #maximize the figure
time.sleep(3)
mng.window.showMinimized() #minimize the figure
time.sleep(3)
mng.window.showNormal() #normal figure
time.sleep(3)
mng.window.hide() #hide the figure
time.sleep(3)
fig.show() #show the previously hidden figure

ax.plot(6,6, 'bo') #just to check that everything is ok
plt.show()

How to maximize a plt.show() window

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