The documentation for Matplotlib is generated from reStructuredText using

theSphinx_ documentation generation tool.There are several extra

requirementsthat are needed to build the documentation. They are listed in

:file:`doc-requirements.txt`as well as listed below:

theSphinx_ documentation generation tool. There are several extra requirements

that are needed to build the documentation. They are listed in

:file:`doc-requirements.txt`and listed below:

1. Sphinx 1.3 or later (1.5.0 is not supported)

2. numpydoc 0.4 or later

the directories:file:`docs/gallery` and:file:`docs/tutorials`

are generated.

The configuration file for Sphinx is:file:`doc/conf.py`.It controls which

The configuration file for Sphinx is:file:`doc/conf.py`. It controls which

directories Sphinx parses, how the docs are built, and how the extensions are

used.

Building the docs

The documentation sources are found in the:file:`doc/` directory in

the trunk. To build the documentation in html format, cd into

:file:`doc/` and run:

The documentation sources are found in the:file:`doc/` directory in the trunk.

To build the documentation in html format, cd into:file:`doc/` and run:

..code-block::sh

The list ofcomamnds and flags for ``make.py`` can be listed by running

``python make.py --help``.In particular,

The list ofcommands and flags for ``make.py`` can be listed by running

``python make.py --help``. In particular,

* ``python make.py clean`` will delete the built Sphinx files.Use this

commandif you're getting strange errors about missing paths or broken links,

* ``python make.py clean`` will delete the built Sphinx files. Use this command

if you're getting strange errors about missing paths or broken links,

particularly if you move files around.

* ``python make.py latex`` builds a PDF of the documentation.

* The ``--allowsphinxwarnings`` flag allows the docs to continue building even

if Sphinx throws a warning.This is useful for debugging and spot-checking

if Sphinx throws a warning. This is useful for debugging and spot-checking

many warnings at once.

Documentation organization

Formatting

Mostdocumentaiton lives in "docstrings". These are comment blocks in the source

Mostdocumentation lives in "docstrings". These are comment blocks in the source

code that explain how the code works. All new or edited docstrings should

conform to the numpydoc guidelines. These split the docstring into a number

of sections - see

The Sphinx website contains plenty ofdocumentation_ concerning ReST markup and

working with Sphinx in general.

The Sphinx websitealsocontains plenty ofdocumentation_ concerning ReST

markup andworking with Sphinx in general.

Function arguments

Maths

Mathematical expressions can be rendered as png images in html, and in the

usual way by LaTeX. For example,

..code-block::rst

yields:math:`\sin(x_n^2)`, and:

..code-block::rst

yields:math:`\int_{-\infty}^{\infty}\frac{e^{i\phi}}{1+x^2\frac{e^{i\phi}}{1+x^2}}`.

IPython code

Interactive IPython sessions can be illustrated in the documentation using

the following directive:

..code-block::rst

which yields

..code-block::ipython

Footnotes

Footnotes [#]_ can be added using ``[#]_``, followed later by:

..code-block::rst

which yields

..rubric::Footnotes

.. [#]For example.

Figures