diff --git a/doc/api/next_api_changes/2018-02-15-AL-deprecations.rst b/doc/api/next_api_changes/2018-02-15-AL-deprecations.rst
index df34bd47dab4..a34615e18dee 100644
--- a/doc/api/next_api_changes/2018-02-15-AL-deprecations.rst
+++ b/doc/api/next_api_changes/2018-02-15-AL-deprecations.rst
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ The following classes, methods, functions, and attributes are deprecated:
 - ``text.Annotation.arrow``,
 
 The following rcParams are deprecated:
+- ``examples.directory`` (use ``datapath`` instead),
 - ``pgf.debug`` (the pgf backend relies on logging),
 
 The following keyword arguments are deprecated:
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/__init__.py b/lib/matplotlib/__init__.py
index 52205228271e..477f4e68d918 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/__init__.py
@@ -894,6 +894,10 @@ def __setitem__(self, key, val):
                 cbook.warn_deprecated(
                     version, key, obj_type="rcparam", alternative=alt_key)
                 return
+            elif key == 'examples.directory':
+                cbook.warn_deprecated(
+                    "3.0", "{} is deprecated; in the future, examples will be "
+                    "found relative to the 'datapath' directory.".format(key))
             try:
                 cval = self.validate[key](val)
             except ValueError as ve:
@@ -917,6 +921,11 @@ def __getitem__(self, key):
                 version, key, obj_type, alternative=alt_key)
             return dict.__getitem__(self, alt_key) if alt_key else None
 
+        elif key == 'examples.directory':
+            cbook.warn_deprecated(
+                "3.0", "{} is deprecated; in the future, examples will be "
+                "found relative to the 'datapath' directory.".format(key))
+
         return dict.__getitem__(self, key)
 
     def __repr__(self):
@@ -1116,7 +1125,8 @@ def rc_params_from_file(fname, fail_on_error=False, use_default_template=True):
 # this is the instance used by the matplotlib classes
 rcParams = rc_params()
 
-if rcParams['examples.directory']:
+# Don't trigger deprecation warning when just fetching.
+if dict.__getitem__(rcParams, 'examples.directory'):
     # paths that are intended to be relative to matplotlib_fname()
     # are allowed for the examples.directory parameter.
     # However, we will need to fully qualify the path because
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/cbook/__init__.py b/lib/matplotlib/cbook/__init__.py
index b25543ea1e20..059560ecbf45 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/cbook/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/cbook/__init__.py
@@ -522,7 +522,8 @@ def get_sample_data(fname, asfileobj=True):
 
     If the filename ends in .gz, the file is implicitly ungzipped.
     """
-    if matplotlib.rcParams['examples.directory']:
+    # Don't trigger deprecation warning when just fetching.
+    if dict.__getitem__(matplotlib.rcParams, 'examples.directory'):
         root = matplotlib.rcParams['examples.directory']
     else:
         root = os.path.join(matplotlib._get_data_path(), 'sample_data')
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_rcparams.py b/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_rcparams.py
index 8b28f0a1af1f..6a0040d1e0d8 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_rcparams.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_rcparams.py
@@ -463,7 +463,7 @@ def test_if_rctemplate_is_up_to_date():
             continue
         if k in deprecated:
             continue
-        if "verbose" in k:
+        if k.startswith(("verbose.", "examples.directory")):
             continue
         found = False
         for line in rclines:
diff --git a/matplotlibrc.template b/matplotlibrc.template
index 6d8654d05eeb..cf777b901ec2 100644
--- a/matplotlibrc.template
+++ b/matplotlibrc.template
@@ -594,9 +594,6 @@ backend      : $TEMPLATE_BACKEND
 #keymap.all_axes : a                 ## enable all axes
 #keymap.copy : ctrl+c, cmd+c         ## Copy figure to clipboard
 
-## Control location of examples data files
-#examples.directory :              ## directory to look in for custom installation
-
 ###ANIMATION settings
 #animation.html :  none            ## How to display the animation as HTML in
                                    ## the IPython notebook. 'html5' uses