diff --git a/examples/pylab_examples/barchart_demo2.py b/examples/pylab_examples/barchart_demo2.py
index 7d1d411d37a5..6db915d2d23d 100644
--- a/examples/pylab_examples/barchart_demo2.py
+++ b/examples/pylab_examples/barchart_demo2.py
@@ -10,7 +10,6 @@
 """
 import numpy as np
 import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
-import pylab
 from matplotlib.ticker import MaxNLocator
 
 student = 'Johnny Doe'
@@ -33,7 +32,7 @@
 rects = ax1.barh(pos, rankings, align='center', height=0.5, color='m')
 
 ax1.axis([0, 100, 0, 5])
-pylab.yticks(pos, testNames)
+plt.yticks(pos, testNames)
 ax1.set_title('Johnny Doe')
 plt.text(50, -0.5, 'Cohort Size: ' + str(cohortSize),
          horizontalalignment='center', size='small')
@@ -43,7 +42,7 @@
 ax2 = ax1.twinx()
 ax2.plot([100, 100], [0, 5], 'white', alpha=0.1)
 ax2.xaxis.set_major_locator(MaxNLocator(11))
-xticks = pylab.setp(ax2, xticklabels=['0', '10', '20', '30', '40', '50', '60',
+xticks = plt.setp(ax2, xticklabels=['0', '10', '20', '30', '40', '50', '60',
                                       '70', '80', '90', '100'])
 ax2.xaxis.grid(True, linestyle='--', which='major', color='grey',
                alpha=0.25)
diff --git a/examples/pylab_examples/barcode_demo.py b/examples/pylab_examples/barcode_demo.py
index 5178a9fc2683..2e5b480145b3 100644
--- a/examples/pylab_examples/barcode_demo.py
+++ b/examples/pylab_examples/barcode_demo.py
@@ -1,14 +1,13 @@
-from matplotlib.pyplot import figure, show, cm
-from numpy import where
-from numpy.random import rand
+import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
+import numpy as np
 
 # the bar
-x = where(rand(500) > 0.7, 1.0, 0.0)
+x = np.where(np.random.rand(500) > 0.7, 1.0, 0.0)
 
 axprops = dict(xticks=[], yticks=[])
-barprops = dict(aspect='auto', cmap=cm.binary, interpolation='nearest')
+barprops = dict(aspect='auto', cmap=plt.cm.binary, interpolation='nearest')
 
-fig = figure()
+fig = plt.figure()
 
 # a vertical barcode -- this is broken at present
 x.shape = len(x), 1
@@ -22,4 +21,4 @@
 ax.imshow(x, **barprops)
 
 
-show()
+plt.show()
diff --git a/examples/pylab_examples/boxplot_demo.py b/examples/pylab_examples/boxplot_demo.py
index 4dd53cd3487d..288332180e71 100644
--- a/examples/pylab_examples/boxplot_demo.py
+++ b/examples/pylab_examples/boxplot_demo.py
@@ -1,57 +1,52 @@
-#!/usr/bin/python
-
-#
-# Example boxplot code
-#
-
-from pylab import *
+import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
+import numpy as np
 
 # fake up some data
-spread = rand(50) * 100
-center = ones(25) * 50
-flier_high = rand(10) * 100 + 100
-flier_low = rand(10) * -100
-data = concatenate((spread, center, flier_high, flier_low), 0)
+spread = np.random.rand(50) * 100
+center = np.ones(25) * 50
+flier_high = np.random.rand(10) * 100 + 100
+flier_low = np.random.rand(10) * -100
+data = np.concatenate((spread, center, flier_high, flier_low), 0)
 
 # basic plot
-boxplot(data)
+plt.boxplot(data)
 
 # notched plot
-figure()
-boxplot(data, 1)
+plt.figure()
+plt.boxplot(data, 1)
 
 # change outlier point symbols
-figure()
-boxplot(data, 0, 'gD')
+plt.figure()
+plt.boxplot(data, 0, 'gD')
 
 # don't show outlier points
-figure()
-boxplot(data, 0, '')
+plt.figure()
+plt.boxplot(data, 0, '')
 
 # horizontal boxes
-figure()
-boxplot(data, 0, 'rs', 0)
+plt.figure()
+plt.boxplot(data, 0, 'rs', 0)
 
 # change whisker length
-figure()
-boxplot(data, 0, 'rs', 0, 0.75)
+plt.figure()
+plt.boxplot(data, 0, 'rs', 0, 0.75)
 
 # fake up some more data
-spread = rand(50) * 100
-center = ones(25) * 40
-flier_high = rand(10) * 100 + 100
-flier_low = rand(10) * -100
-d2 = concatenate((spread, center, flier_high, flier_low), 0)
+spread = np.random.rand(50) * 100
+center = np.ones(25) * 40
+flier_high = np.random.rand(10) * 100 + 100
+flier_low = np.random.rand(10) * -100
+d2 = np.concatenate((spread, center, flier_high, flier_low), 0)
 data.shape = (-1, 1)
 d2.shape = (-1, 1)
-#data = concatenate( (data, d2), 1 )
+# data = concatenate( (data, d2), 1 )
 # Making a 2-D array only works if all the columns are the
 # same length.  If they are not, then use a list instead.
 # This is actually more efficient because boxplot converts
 # a 2-D array into a list of vectors internally anyway.
 data = [data, d2, d2[::2, 0]]
 # multiple box plots on one figure
-figure()
-boxplot(data)
+plt.figure()
+plt.boxplot(data)
 
-show()
+plt.show()
diff --git a/examples/pylab_examples/break.py b/examples/pylab_examples/break.py
index 6b1f6142d1da..37e13aa8c867 100644
--- a/examples/pylab_examples/break.py
+++ b/examples/pylab_examples/break.py
@@ -1,8 +1,6 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
-from pylab import *
+import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
 
+plt.gcf().text(0.5, 0.95, 'Distance Histograms by Category is \
+    a really long title')
 
-gcf().text(0.5, 0.95,
-           'Distance Histograms by Category is a really long title')
-
-show()
+plt.show()
diff --git a/examples/pylab_examples/clippedline.py b/examples/pylab_examples/clippedline.py
index d33bf4b2a1e4..ad1db567c869 100644
--- a/examples/pylab_examples/clippedline.py
+++ b/examples/pylab_examples/clippedline.py
@@ -9,13 +9,14 @@
 """
 
 from matplotlib.lines import Line2D
+import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
 import numpy as np
-from pylab import figure, show
 
 
 class ClippedLine(Line2D):
     """
-    Clip the xlimits to the axes view limits -- this example assumes x is sorted
+    Clip the xlimits to the axes view limits
+        this example assumes x is sorted
     """
 
     def __init__(self, ax, *args, **kwargs):
@@ -45,7 +46,7 @@ def draw(self, renderer):
         Line2D.draw(self, renderer)
 
 
-fig = figure()
+fig = plt.figure()
 ax = fig.add_subplot(111, autoscale_on=False)
 
 t = np.arange(0.0, 100.0, 0.01)
@@ -54,4 +55,4 @@ def draw(self, renderer):
 ax.add_line(line)
 ax.set_xlim(10, 30)
 ax.set_ylim(-1.1, 1.1)
-show()
+plt.show()