matplotlib pyplot Invalid DISPLAY variable

Question

While importing and attempting the following:

import matplotlib
from matplotlib import pyplot as plt


plt.plot([1,2,3],[1,4,9])
plt.show()

I get the following error. How do I fix? I am running Python 2.7, and notebook version 4.1.0. Thank you.

RuntimeError: Invalid DISPLAY variable

it's possible that you're using it with a different users from the one that is running the X subsystem. Try using the same user. Otherwise, as a quick workaround and provided that you have a single display, try this before running your script: export DISPLAY=:0 — Davide Alberani
– Davide Alberani, Commented Aug 21, 2017 at 7:31
Do you by chance run the Python remotely on another computer via SSH? — DYZ
– DYZ, Commented Aug 21, 2017 at 7:46
export DISPLAY=:0 gives invalid syntax. Is it =:0? Thank you. — heisenberg
– heisenberg, Commented Aug 21, 2017 at 7:47
The jupyter notebook reside on linux server and I am using the chrome browser to work in the notebooks. — heisenberg
– heisenberg, Commented Aug 21, 2017 at 7:48

ImportanceOfBeingErnest · Accepted Answer · 2017-08-21 10:04:56Z

3

When running a jupyter notebook on a server, the server may not even be able to display the plot. The usual solution would be to use a non-interactive backend. In case of a jupyter notebook this would be done by adding

%matplotlib inline

at the top of the notebook, such that graphics are shown as png images.

answered Aug 21, 2017 at 10:04

ImportanceOfBeingErnest

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