[python] "UserWarning: Matplotlib is currently using agg, which is a non-GUI backend, so cannot show the figure." when plotting figure with pyplot on Pycharm

I am trying to plot a simple graph using pyplot, e.g.:

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
plt.plot([1,2,3],[5,7,4])
plt.show()

but the figure does not appear and I get the following message:

UserWarning: Matplotlib is currently using agg, which is a non-GUI backend, so cannot show the figure.

I saw in several places that one had to change the configuration of matplotlib using the following:

import matplotlib
matplotlib.use('TkAgg')
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

I did this, but then got an error message because it cannot find a module:

ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'tkinter'

Then, I tried to install "tkinter" using pip install tkinter (inside the virtual environment), but it does not find it:

Collecting tkinter
  Could not find a version that satisfies the requirement tkinter (from versions: )
No matching distribution found for tkinter

I should also mention that I am running all this on Pycharm Community Edition IDE using a virtual environment, and that my operating system is Linux/Ubuntu 18.04.

I would like to know how I can solve this problem in order to be able to display the graph.

After upgrading lots of packages (Spyder 3 to 4, Keras and Tensorflow and lots of their dependencies), I had the same problem today! I cannot figure out what happened; but the (conda-based) virtual environment that kept using Spyder 3 did not have the problem. Although installing tkinter or changing the backend, via matplotlib.use('TkAgg) as shown above, or this nice post on how to change the backend, might well resolve the problem, I don't see these as rigid solutions. For me, uninstalling matplotlib and reinstalling it was magic and the problem was solved.

pip uninstall matplotlib

... then, install

pip install matplotlib

From all the above, this could be a package management problem, and BTW, I use both conda and pip, whenever feasible.

The comment by @xicocaio should be highlighted.

tkinter is python version-specific in the sense that sudo apt-get install python3-tk will install tkinter exclusively for your default version of python. Suppose you have different python versions within various virtual environments, you will have to install tkinter for the desired python version used in that virtual environment. For example, sudo apt-get install python3.7-tk. Not doing this will still lead to No module named ' tkinter' errors, even after installing it for the global python version.

This worked with R reticulate. Found it here.

1: matplotlib.use( 'tkagg' ) or 2: matplotlib$use( 'tkagg' )

For example:

import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from matplotlib import style

import matplotlib
matplotlib.use( 'tkagg' )


style.use("ggplot")
from sklearn import svm

x = [1, 5, 1.5, 8, 1, 9]
y = [2, 8, 1.8, 8, 0.6, 11]

plt.scatter(x,y)
plt.show()

You can change the matplotlib using backend using the from agg to Tkinter TKAgg using command

matplotlib.use('TKAgg',warn=False, force=True)

Linux Mint 19. Helped for me:

sudo apt install tk-dev

P.S. Recompile python interpreter after package install.

Simple install

pip3 install PyQt5==5.9.2

It works for me.

I too had this issue in PyCharm. This issue is because you don't have tkinter module in your machine.

To install follow the steps given below (select your appropriate os)

For ubuntu users

 sudo apt-get install python-tk

or

 sudo apt-get install python3-tk

For Centos users

 sudo yum install python-tkinter

or

 sudo yum install python3-tkinter

For Windows, use pip to install tk

After installing tkinter restart your Pycharm and run your code, it will work

Try import tkinter because pycharm already installed tkinter for you, I looked Install tkinter for Python

You can maybe try:

import tkinter
import matplotlib
matplotlib.use('TkAgg')
plt.plot([1,2,3],[5,7,4])
plt.show()

as a tkinter-installing way

I've tried your way, it seems no error to run at my computer, it successfully shows the figure. maybe because pycharm have tkinter as a system package, so u don't need to install it. But if u can't find tkinter inside, you can go to Tkdocs to see the way of installing tkinter, as it mentions, tkinter is a core package for python.

issue = “UserWarning: Matplotlib is currently using agg, which is a non-GUI backend, so cannot show the figure.”

And this worked for me

import matplotlib
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
matplotlib.use('Qt5Agg')

Just in case if this helps anybody.

Python version: 3.7.7 platform: Ubuntu 18.04.4 LTS

This came with default python version 3.6.9, however I had installed my own 3.7.7 version python on it (installed building it from source)

tkinter was not working even when the help('module') shows tkinter in the list.

The following steps worked for me:

1. sudo apt-get install tk-dev.

rebuild the python: 1. Navigate to your python folder and run the checks:

cd Python-3.7.7
sudo ./configure --enable-optimizations

2. Build using make command: sudo make -j 8 --- here 8 are the number of processors, check yours using nproc command.

3. Installing using:

   sudo make altinstall
   

Don't use sudo make install, it will overwrite default 3.6.9 version, which might be messy later.

4. Check tkinter now

   python3.7 -m tkinter
   

A windows box will pop up, your tkinter is ready now.

In my case, the error message was implying that I was working in a headless console. So plt.show() could not work. What worked was calling plt.savefig:

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

plt.plot([1,2,3], [5,7,4])
plt.savefig("mygraph.png")

I found the answer on a github repository.

If you use Arch Linux (distributions like Manjaro or Antegros) simply type:

sudo pacman -S tk

And all will work perfectly!

I added %matplotlib inline and my plot showed up in Jupyter Notebook.

When I ran into this error on Spyder, I changed from running my code line by line to highlighting my block of plotting code and running that all at once. Voila, the image appeared.