matplotlib_fontcheck.py

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
"""
Matplotlib font checker
Prints a figure displaying a variety of system fonts and their ability to produce Japanese text

See http://olsgaard.dk/notes/?p=64

@author: Mads Olsgaard, 2014

Released under BSD License.
"""

import matplotlib
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from matplotlib import font_manager

fonts = ['Droid Sans', 'Vera', 'TakaoGothic', 'TakaoPGothic', 'Liberation Sans', 'ubuntu', 'FreeSans', 'Droid Sans Japanese', 'DejaVu Sans']
#fonts = ['Arial', 'Times New Roman', 'Helvetica'] #uncomment this line on Windows and see if it helps!
english = 'The quick ...'
japanese = '日本語'
x = 0.1
y = 1

# Buils headline
plt.text(x+0.5,y, 'english')
plt.text(x+0.7, y, 'japanese')
plt.text(x,y, 'Font name')
plt.text(0,y-0.05, '-'*100)
y -=0.1

for f in fonts:
	matplotlib.rc('font', family='DejaVu Sans')
	plt.text(x,y, f+':')
	matplotlib.rc('font', family=f)
	plt.text(x+0.5,y, english)
	plt.text(x+0.7, y, japanese)
	y -= 0.1
	print(f, font_manager.findfont(f))  # Sanity check. Prints the location of the font. 
										# If the font is not found, an error message is printed 
										# and the location of the fallback font is shown

plt.show()