Save/restore Matplotlib axes limits during iterative and interactive development.
This functionality becomes useful when using cell-mode functionality in editors such as IdleX, Spyder, IEP, etc. During algorithm prototyping, plots are generated. These helper routines allow for inspecting a region of interest on a plot, and then running a change to see its effects without needing to re-zoom/pan to the region of interest.
from pylab import *
from axclf import *
ion()
## interactive cell
figure(1)
axclf() # save axes limits and clear figure
ex = 6 # adjust this number when re-running, (CTRL+Plus in IdleX)
x = linspace(0, 10, 1000)
y = sin(x) ** ex
plot(x, y)
axrestore() # restore axes limits