diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/sphinxext/plot_directive.py b/lib/matplotlib/sphinxext/plot_directive.py
index d40e0c58b4a5..c28b2e6a2528 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/sphinxext/plot_directive.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/sphinxext/plot_directive.py
@@ -866,10 +866,11 @@ def run(arguments, content, options, state_machine, state, lineno):
                     shutil.copyfile(fn, destimg)
 
     # copy script (if necessary)
-    Path(dest_dir, output_base + source_ext).write_text(
-        doctest.script_from_examples(code)
-        if source_file_name == rst_file and is_doctest
-        else code,
-        encoding='utf-8')
+    if config.plot_html_show_source_link:
+        Path(dest_dir, output_base + source_ext).write_text(
+            doctest.script_from_examples(code)
+            if source_file_name == rst_file and is_doctest
+            else code,
+            encoding='utf-8')
 
     return errors
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_sphinxext.py b/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_sphinxext.py
index 668563ee5045..02d56aeedc55 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_sphinxext.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_sphinxext.py
@@ -97,10 +97,35 @@ def plot_directive_file(num):
     assert filecmp.cmp(range_6, plot_file(5))
 
 
-def build_sphinx_html(source_dir, doctree_dir, html_dir):
+def test_plot_html_show_source_link(tmpdir):
+    source_dir = Path(tmpdir) / 'src'
+    source_dir.mkdir()
+    parent = Path(__file__).parent
+    shutil.copyfile(parent / 'tinypages/conf.py', source_dir / 'conf.py')
+    shutil.copytree(parent / 'tinypages/_static', source_dir / '_static')
+    doctree_dir = source_dir / 'doctrees'
+    (source_dir / 'index.rst').write_text("""
+.. plot::
+
+    plt.plot(range(2))
+""")
+    # Make sure source scripts are created by default
+    html_dir1 = source_dir / '_build' / 'html1'
+    build_sphinx_html(source_dir, doctree_dir, html_dir1)
+    assert "index-1.py" in [p.name for p in html_dir1.iterdir()]
+    # Make sure source scripts are NOT created when
+    # plot_html_show_source_link` is False
+    html_dir2 = source_dir / '_build' / 'html2'
+    build_sphinx_html(source_dir, doctree_dir, html_dir2,
+                      extra_args=['-D', 'plot_html_show_source_link=0'])
+    assert "index-1.py" not in [p.name for p in html_dir2.iterdir()]
+
+
+def build_sphinx_html(source_dir, doctree_dir, html_dir, extra_args=None):
     # Build the pages with warnings turned into errors
+    extra_args = [] if extra_args is None else extra_args
     cmd = [sys.executable, '-msphinx', '-W', '-b', 'html',
-           '-d', str(doctree_dir), str(source_dir), str(html_dir)]
+           '-d', str(doctree_dir), str(source_dir), str(html_dir), *extra_args]
     proc = Popen(cmd, stdout=PIPE, stderr=PIPE, universal_newlines=True,
                  env={**os.environ, "MPLBACKEND": ""})
     out, err = proc.communicate()