Matplotlib plots not showing in VS Code

Question

I am running Windows 10 and when I run a script that use matplotlib.pyplot to create a plot, no plot is created if I run in the embedded terminal (either bash or powershell) in vscode. However, the figure window is shown in my task bar but I cannot open it.

I still get a plot when I run the script in jupyter. I also get a plot window when I run the script in the 'Terminal' app. So, I figured this problem has something to do with vscode.

The code I use is really simple:

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

x = [1, 1]
plt.plot(x)
plt.show()

Would you be able to provide a MWE showing the behaviour you describe? — fdireito
– fdireito, Commented Feb 9, 2021 at 20:03
@David Zanger -When I used "matplotlib.pyplot" to draw a graph in VS Code, it popped up the plot. Could you please provide us with your test code that minimizes and reproduces this problem? Did you use the relevant settings in "settings.json"? — Jill Cheng
– Jill Cheng, Commented Feb 10, 2021 at 1:35
I solved the problem by degrading the python version in conda from 3.8.5 to 3.7.9. However, this should not be the solution. — David Zanger
– David Zanger, Commented Feb 10, 2021 at 7:17
@David Zanger -For example, whether you set the use of the VS Code terminal and the use of some extensions may affect it. — Jill Cheng
– Jill Cheng, Commented Feb 10, 2021 at 7:48

cbueltem · Accepted Answer · 2021-11-13 19:45:36Z

33

In Visual Studio Code Jupyter Notebooks you may see something like this:

in order to show the plot you may click on the

</>

symbol to the left and change the the mime type to image/png (Jupyter renderer).
Now the plot appears.

edited Nov 13, 2021 at 19:45

answered Nov 13, 2021 at 12:04

cbueltem

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2 Comments

AlexGenkin Over a year ago

Very helpful! Can I change it once and for all, not for every plot individually? Thanks

Shayan Over a year ago

Hello when I click the symbol, there's only text/html and text/plain what should I do?

arhr · Accepted Answer · 2021-11-09 16:28:44Z

26

When you are plotting a graph in a script, make sure to use the following command to output the window displaying the graph.

plt.show()

By default, Jupyter outputs the graph, even when plt.show() is not explicitly called.

edited Nov 9, 2021 at 16:28

answered Feb 9, 2021 at 15:27

arhr

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1 Comment

David Zanger Over a year ago

I'm already using plt.show() but it still does not work. It just creates the window but with no plot. I also can not open the window, it is just in the task bar.

ymentha14 · Accepted Answer · 2022-05-06 13:55:00Z

18

Make sure you call the ipython magic command

%matplotlib inline

before trying to plot anything.

answered May 6, 2022 at 13:55

ymentha14

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1 Comment

CN_Cabbage Over a year ago

That works to some extent (show the graph). But it doesn't render when I use the interactive mode %matplotlib notebook

Luca · Accepted Answer · 2024-05-16 11:26:06Z

10

Run the program in interactive window in vs code.

To do so, right click on code area; in the appearing menu, click on "run in interactive window" and then select "run current file in interactive window"

edited May 16, 2024 at 11:26

Luca

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answered Aug 8, 2022 at 7:20

Mohd Shahid

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Comments

tdy · Accepted Answer · 2023-02-18 16:12:32Z

7

Click on Run Current File in Interactive Window:

Run interactive file

That solves this issue:

Example

edited Feb 18, 2023 at 16:12

tdy

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answered Feb 18, 2023 at 9:43

Shreyan Das

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1 Comment

Naveen Over a year ago

You've hit the nail. This is the only answer that worked for me.

MD Mushfirat Mohaimin · Accepted Answer · 2021-08-04 22:24:01Z

6

Try the latest version of matplotlib

pip install matplotlib --upgrade

This works good for me.

edited Aug 4, 2021 at 22:24

MD Mushfirat Mohaimin

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answered Aug 4, 2021 at 11:25

python_geek

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Comments

theo olsthoorn · Accepted Answer · 2021-11-11 19:33:40Z

3

When running in the integrated terminal, I get all the generated pictures only when I put plt.show(block=True) at the end of the python file. I get none of them if this statement is omitted or when plt.show(block=False) is used. By the way plt.show(block=True) is the default.

answered Nov 11, 2021 at 19:33

theo olsthoorn

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1 Comment

astromath Over a year ago

That helped me! Thanks for that Theo! Just a small comment. plt.show(block=True) is the default in non-interactive mode. Otherwise it is set to False.

user13233820 · Accepted Answer · 2021-08-07 03:57:21Z

2

Maybe you can try changing the Output Mimetype to one with an option with an image. It must be plain/text for you for that cell. You can change it for different cells from their options.

answered Aug 7, 2021 at 3:57

user13233820

Comments

Miguel Conde · Accepted Answer · 2022-01-04 11:35:57Z

2

pip install ipympl worked for me.

This post helped me finding this solution: https://github.com/matplotlib/ipympl/issues/132

edited Jan 4, 2022 at 11:35

Miguel Conde

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answered Jan 4, 2022 at 0:40

Ellen Tuane

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1 Comment

Community Over a year ago

Your answer could be improved with additional supporting information. Please edit to add further details, such as citations or documentation, so that others can confirm that your answer is correct. You can find more information on how to write good answers in the help center.

desertnaut · Accepted Answer · 2023-10-06 00:49:35Z

2

I was using conda and python 3.9.7 experienced same problem try this

pip install ipympl

if not worked I tried these command and now it works

pip install PyQt5

edited Oct 6, 2023 at 0:49

desertnaut

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answered May 19, 2022 at 18:48

Pruthviraj Jadhav

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Comments

MPA · Accepted Answer · 2023-01-20 11:31:53Z

1

Following the discussion from this GitHub issue, it seems that ipywidgets>=8 is not supported yet. Installing ipywidgets==7.7.2 (and restarting VS Code) fixed the issue for me.

answered Jan 20, 2023 at 11:31

MPA

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Comments

Lazor · Accepted Answer · 2023-08-28 18:52:58Z

1

I had to install the Jupyter extension in my project in order to get the option to run the script in an interactive window and see the plot.

answered Aug 28, 2023 at 18:52

Lazor

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Comments

Michael36500 · Accepted Answer · 2022-09-16 14:37:07Z

0

Maybe try this:

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

x = [1, 1]
rnge = range(len(x))
plt.plot(x, rnge)
plt.show()

answered Sep 16, 2022 at 14:37

Michael36500

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Comments

Stephen Frost · Accepted Answer · 2023-07-17 19:49:12Z

In my case, there seemed to be some problem in my notebook file where fig, ax = plt.subplots() would immediately return an empty plot visualization, after which plt.show() would do apparently nothing (no figure/plot). Since my check of plt.isinteractive() returned True, I did the following and got a plot after plt.show():

plt.ioff() #turn off updating of plots after every plotting command
fig, ax = plt.subplots()
...
...
...
plt.ion() #re-enable interactive mode
plt.show()

I don't know why this helps, and frankly, I shouldn't have to do it if I really want to see an updated plot after each plotting command. But it does get plt.show() to actually show something within the VS Code notebook.

Edit:
I found also that if I have fig, ax = plt.subplots() and ax.plot(...) within same cell, the plot shows below the cell with no explicit plt.show() being necessary. With subplots() and plot() commands in different cells, I have not found a way to make the plot show except by explicitly calling plt.show() with interactive mode turned off then on, as I've shown above. And even this works only the first time cell with plt.show() is executed. Immediately rerunning the cell results in no plot shown.

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