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On linux, <span class="target" id="index-0"></span><a class="reference internal" href="#envvar-HOME"><tt class="xref std std-envvar docutils literal"><span class="pre">~</span></tt></a> is shorthand for <span class="target" id="index-1"></span><a class="reference internal" href="#envvar-HOME"><tt class="xref std std-envvar docutils literal"><span class="pre">HOME</span></tt></a>.</p> </dd></dl> <dl class="envvar"> <dt id="envvar-PATH"> <tt class="descname">PATH</tt><a class="headerlink" href="#envvar-PATH" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>The list of directories searched to find executable programs</p> </dd></dl> <dl class="envvar"> <dt id="envvar-PYTHONPATH"> <tt class="descname">PYTHONPATH</tt><a class="headerlink" href="#envvar-PYTHONPATH" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>The list of directories that is added to Python’s standard search list when importing packages and modules</p> </dd></dl> <dl class="envvar"> <dt id="envvar-MPLCONFIGDIR"> <tt class="descname">MPLCONFIGDIR</tt><a class="headerlink" href="#envvar-MPLCONFIGDIR" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>This is the directory used to store user customizations to matplotlib, as well as some caches to improve performance. If <span class="target" id="index-2"></span><a class="reference internal" href="#envvar-MPLCONFIGDIR"><tt class="xref std std-envvar docutils literal"><span class="pre">MPLCONFIGDIR</span></tt></a> is not defined, <tt class="file docutils literal"><em><span class="pre">HOME</span></em><span class="pre">/.matplotlib</span></tt> is used if it is writable. Otherwise, the python standard library <tt class="xref py py-func docutils literal"><span class="pre">tempfile.gettmpdir()</span></tt> is used to find a base directory in which the <tt class="file docutils literal"><span class="pre">matplotlib</span></tt> subdirectory is created.</p> </dd></dl> <div class="section" id="setting-environment-variables-in-linux-and-os-x"> <span id="setting-linux-osx-environment-variables"></span><h2>Setting environment variables in Linux and OS-X<a class="headerlink" href="#setting-environment-variables-in-linux-and-os-x" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2> <p>To list the current value of <span class="target" id="index-3"></span><a class="reference internal" href="#envvar-PYTHONPATH"><tt class="xref std std-envvar docutils literal"><span class="pre">PYTHONPATH</span></tt></a>, which may be empty, try:</p> <div class="highlight-python"><pre>echo $PYTHONPATH</pre> </div> <p>The procedure for setting environment variables in depends on what your default shell is. <strong class="program">BASH</strong> seems to be the most common, but <strong class="program">CSH</strong> is also common. You should be able to determine which by running at the command prompt:</p> <div class="highlight-python"><pre>echo $SHELL</pre> </div> <div class="section" id="bash-ksh"> <h3>BASH/KSH<a class="headerlink" href="#bash-ksh" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3> <p>To create a new environment variable:</p> <div class="highlight-python"><pre>export PYTHONPATH=~/Python</pre> </div> <p>To prepend to an existing environment variable:</p> <div class="highlight-python"><pre>export PATH=~/bin:${PATH}</pre> </div> <p>The search order may be important to you, do you want <tt class="file docutils literal"><span class="pre">~/bin</span></tt> to be searched first or last? To append to an existing environment variable:</p> <div class="highlight-python"><pre>export PATH=${PATH}:~/bin</pre> </div> <p>To make your changes available in the future, add the commands to your <tt class="file docutils literal"><span class="pre">~/.bashrc</span></tt> file.</p> </div> <div class="section" id="csh-tcsh"> <h3>CSH/TCSH<a class="headerlink" href="#csh-tcsh" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3> <p>To create a new environment variable:</p> <div class="highlight-python"><pre>setenv PYTHONPATH ~/Python</pre> </div> <p>To prepend to an existing environment variable:</p> <div class="highlight-python"><pre>setenv PATH ~/bin:${PATH}</pre> </div> <p>The search order may be important to you, do you want <tt class="file docutils literal"><span class="pre">~/bin</span></tt> to be searched first or last? To append to an existing environment variable:</p> <div class="highlight-python"><pre>setenv PATH ${PATH}:~/bin</pre> </div> <p>To make your changes available in the future, add the commands to your <tt class="file docutils literal"><span class="pre">~/.cshrc</span></tt> file.</p> </div> </div> <div class="section" id="setting-environment-variables-in-windows"> <span id="setting-windows-environment-variables"></span><h2>Setting environment variables in windows<a class="headerlink" href="#setting-environment-variables-in-windows" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2> <p>Open the <strong class="program">Control Panel</strong> (<em class="menuselection">Start ‣ Control Panel</em>), start the <strong class="program">System</strong> program. Click the <em class="guilabel">Advanced</em> tab and select the <em class="guilabel">Environment Variables</em> button. You can edit or add to the <em class="guilabel">User Variables</em>.</p> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="clearer"></div> </div> <div class="related"> <h3>Navigation</h3> <ul> <li class="right" style="margin-right: 10px"> <a href="../genindex.html" title="General Index" >index</a></li> <li class="right" > <a href="../py-modindex.html" title="Python Module Index" >modules</a> |</li> <li class="right" > <a href="../devel/index.html" title="The Matplotlib Developers’ Guide" >next</a> |</li> <li class="right" > <a href="troubleshooting_faq.html" title="Troubleshooting" >previous</a> |</li> <li><a href="../index.html">home</a>| </li> <li><a href="../search.html">search</a>| </li> <li><a href="../examples/index.html">examples</a>| </li> <li><a href="../gallery.html">gallery</a>| </li> <li><a href="../contents.html">docs</a> »</li> <li><a href="index.html" >The Matplotlib FAQ</a> »</li> </ul> </div> <div class="footer"> © Copyright 2012 John Hunter, Darren Dale, Eric Firing, Michael Droettboom and the matplotlib development team. 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