Merge pull request #9874 from matplotlib/auto-backport-of-pr-9272

tacaswell · web-flow · commit 75d6345475bb · 2017-12-01T10:49:52.000-05:00
Backport PR #9272 on branch v2.1.x
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/sphinxext/plot_directive.py b/lib/matplotlib/sphinxext/plot_directive.py
@@ -90,7 +90,11 @@
         Whether to show a link to the source in HTML.
 
     plot_pre_code
-        Code that should be executed before each plot.
+        Code that should be executed before each plot. If not specified or None
+        it will default to a string containing::
+
+            import numpy as np
+            from matplotlib import pyplot as plt
 
     plot_basedir
         Base directory, to which ``plot::`` file names are relative
