Contents
See Getting help.
The first thing to try is a clean install and see if
that helps. If not, the best way to test your install is by running a script,
rather than working interactively from a python shell or an integrated
development environment such as IDLE which add additional
complexities. Open up a UNIX shell or a DOS command prompt and cd into a
directory containing a minimal example in a file. Something like
simple_plot.py for example:
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
fig, ax = plt.subplots()
ax.plot([1,2,3])
plt.show()
and run it with:
python simple_plot.py --verbose-helpful
This will give you additional information about which backends matplotlib is
loading, version information, and more. At this point you might want to make
sure you understand matplotlib’s configuration
process, governed by the matplotlibrc configuration file which contains
instructions within and the concept of the matplotlib backend.
If you are still having trouble, see Getting help.
Occasionally, problems with matplotlib can be solved with a clean installation of the package.
The process for removing an installation of matplotlib depends on how matplotlib was originally installed on your system. Follow the steps below that goes with your original installation method to cleanly remove matplotlib from your system.
Unfortunately:
python setup.py clean
does not properly clean the build directory, and does nothing to the install directory. To cleanly rebuild:
build directory in the source tree.Clone the main source using one of:
git clone git@github.com:matplotlib/matplotlib.git
or:
git clone git://github.com/matplotlib/matplotlib.git
and build and install as usual with:
> cd matplotlib
> python setup.py install
Note
If you are on debian/ubuntu, you can get all the dependencies required to build matplotlib with:
sudo apt-get build-dep python-matplotlib
If you are on Fedora/RedHat, you can get all the dependencies
required to build matplotlib by first installing yum-builddep
and then running:
su -c "yum-builddep python-matplotlib"
This does not build matplotlib, but it does get all of the build dependencies, which will make building from source easier.
If you want to be able to follow the development branch as it changes just replace the last step with (make sure you have setuptools installed):
> python setup.py develop
This creates links in the right places and installs the command line script to the appropriate places.
Note
Mac OSX users please see the Building on OSX guide.
Windows users please see the Building on Windows guide.
Then, if you want to update your matplotlib at any time, just do:
> git pull
When you run git pull, if the output shows that only Python files have been
updated, you are all set. If C files have changed, you need to run the python
setup.py develop command again to compile them.
There is more information on using git in the developer docs.
Because most Linux distributions use some sort of package manager, we do not provide a pre-built binary for the Linux platform. Instead, we recommend that you use the “Add Software” method for your system to install matplotlib. This will guarantee that everything that is needed for matplotlib will be installed as well.
If, for some reason, you can not use the package manager, Linux usually comes with at least a basic build system. Follow the instructions found above for how to build and install matplotlib.
Apple ships OS X with its own Python, in /usr/bin/python, and its own copy
of matplotlib. Unfortunately, the way Apple currently installs its own copies
of numpy, scipy and matplotlib means that these packages are difficult to
upgrade (see system python packages). For that reason we strongly suggest
that you install a fresh version of Python and use that as the basis for
installing libraries such as numpy and matplotlib. One convenient way to
install matplotlib with other useful Python software is to use one of the
excellent Python scientific software collections that are now available:
These collections include Python itself and a wide range of libraries; if you need a library that is not available from the collection, you can install it yourself using standard methods such as pip. Continuum and Enthought offer their own installation support for these collections; see the Ananconda and Canopy web pages for more information.
Other options for a fresh Python install are the standard installer from python.org, or installing Python using a general OSX package management system such as homebrew or macports. Power users on OSX will likely want one of homebrew or macports on their system to install open source software packages, but it is perfectly possible to use these systems with another source for your Python binary, such as Anaconda, Canopy or Python.org Python.
If you are using recent Python from https://www.python.org, Macports or Homebrew, then you can use the standard pip installer to install matplotlib binaries in the form of wheels.
Install pip following the standard pip install instructions. For the impatient, open a new Terminal.app window and:
curl -O https://bootstrap.pypa.io/get-pip.py
Then (Python 2.7):
python get-pip.py
or (Python 3):
python3 get-pip.py
You can now install matplotlib and all its dependencies with:
pip install matplotlib
For Python 2.7:
sudo port install py27-pip
sudo pip-2.7 install matplotlib
For Python 3.4:
sudo port install py34-pip
sudo pip-3.4 install matplotlib
For Python 2.7:
pip2 install matplotlib
For Python 3.4:
pip3 install matplotlib
You might also want to install IPython; we recommend you install IPython with the IPython notebook option, like this:
pip install ipython[notebook]sudo pip-2.7 install ipython[notebook] or sudo pip-3.4
install ipython[notebook]pip2 install ipython[notebook] or pip3 install
ipython[notebook]If you get errors with pip trying to run a compiler like gcc or clang,
then the first thing to try is to install xcode and
retry the install. If that does not work, then check
Getting help.
matplotlib also has a disk image (.dmg) installer, which contains a
typical Installer.app package to install matplotlib. You should use binary
wheels instead of the disk image installer if you can, because:
If you still want to use the disk image installer, read on.
Note
Before installing via the disk image installer, be sure that all of the packages were compiled for the same version of python. Often, the download site for NumPy and matplotlib will display a supposed ‘current’ version of the package, but you may need to choose a different package from the full list that was built for your combination of python and OSX.
The disk image installer will have a .dmg extension, and will have a name
like matplotlib-1.4.0-py2.7-macosx10.6.dmg.
The name of the installer depends on the versions of python and matplotlib it
was built for, and the version of OSX that the matching Python.org installer
was built for. For example, if the mathing Python.org Python installer was
built for OSX 10.6 or greater, the dmg file will end in -macosx10.6.dmg.
You need to download this disk image file, open the disk image file by double
clicking, and find the new matplotlib disk image icon on your desktop. Double
click on that icon to show the contents of the image. Then double-click on
the .mpkg icon, which will have a name like
matplotlib-1.4.0-py2.7-macosx10.6.mpkg, it will run the Installer.app,
prompt you for a password if you need system-wide installation privileges, and
install to a directory like
/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/site-packages
(exact path depends on your Python version).
The new version of matplotlib should now be on your Python “path”. Check this with one of these commands at the Terminal.app command line:
python2.7 -c 'import matplotlib; print matplotlib.__version__, matplotlib.__file__'
(Python 2.7) or:
python3.4 -c 'import matplotlib; print(matplotlib.__version__, matplotlib.__file__)'
(Python 3.4). You should see something like this:
1.4.0 /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/site-packages/matplotlib/__init__.pyc
where 1.4.0 is the matplotlib version you just installed, and the path
following depends on whether you are using Python.org Python, Homebrew or
Macports. If you see another version, or you get an error like this:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<string>", line 1, in <module>
ImportError: No module named matplotlib
then check that the Python binary is the one you expected by doing one of these commands in Terminal.app:
which python2.7
or:
which python3.4
If you get the result /usr/bin/python2.7, then you are getting the Python
installed with OSX, which is probably not what you want. Try closing and
restarting Terminal.app before running the check again. If that doesn’t fix
the problem, depending on which Python you wanted to use, consider
reinstalling Python.org Python, or check your homebrew or macports setup.
Remember that the disk image installer only works for Python.org Python, and
will not get picked up by other Pythons. If all these fail, please let us
know: see Getting help.