interactive mode doesn't switch on from script (matplotlib 1.4.0 python 2.7.5 on mac osx 10.8.5)
Question: Using python 2.6 on my mac the following works fine (i.e. a plot window
opens):

    
    
    import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
    from numpy import linspace, sin, pi
    plt.ion()
    print "Is interactive:?", plt.isinteractive()
    
    x = linspace(-pi, pi, 1001)
    plt.plot(x, sin(x))
    
    raw_input() #keep the window open
    

It works when I run it in shell (i.e. $ python test.py) as well as when I run
it in an interactive python terminal.

I recently installed python 2.7 and with it nothing happens (more precisely,
plot window appears in Dock, but doesn't open) when I run my script from
shell. The value of plt.isinteractive() is false even after plt.ion().

When I run the same code in an interactive python terminal, everything is
fine.

The answer to [this
question](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/19105388/python-2-7-mac-osx-
interactive-plotting-with-matplotlib-not-working) makes the plot window
appear, but I find it annoying that now I have to add plt.pause(0.1) to my
script.

Is there a way to get the earlier behaviour without modifying the code?

The backend is macosx.


Answer: It seems that this is a
[bug](https://github.com/matplotlib/matplotlib/issues/3505) related to
matplotlib 1.4. An ugly workaround is to include:

    
    
    import sys
    sys.ps1 = 'SOMETHING'
    

before importing matplotlib.

Alternatively, one can use ipython to run the script.

For more details see here
<https://github.com/matplotlib/matplotlib/issues/3505>

