%matplotlib magic command - gives ModuleNotFoundError

[gaitskell]

The basic magic command
%matplotlib
reports an error

%matplotlib interactive also reports an error

%matplotlib

---

ModuleNotFoundError Traceback (most recent call last)
/usr/lib/python3.6/tkinter/init.py in ()
36 try:
---> 37 import _tkinter
38 except ImportError as msg:

ModuleNotFoundError: No module named '_tkinter'

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

ImportError Traceback (most recent call last)
in ()
----> 1 get_ipython().magic('matplotlib')

/usr/local/lib/python3.6/dist-packages/IPython/core/interactiveshell.py in magic(self, arg_s)
2158 magic_name, _, magic_arg_s = arg_s.partition(' ')
2159 magic_name = magic_name.lstrip(prefilter.ESC_MAGIC)
-> 2160 return self.run_line_magic(magic_name, magic_arg_s)
2161
2162 #-------------------------------------------------------------------------

/usr/local/lib/python3.6/dist-packages/IPython/core/interactiveshell.py in run_line_magic(self, magic_name, line)
2079 kwargs['local_ns'] = sys._getframe(stack_depth).f_locals
2080 with self.builtin_trap:
-> 2081 result = fn(*args,**kwargs)
2082 return result
2083

in matplotlib(self, line)

/usr/local/lib/python3.6/dist-packages/IPython/core/magic.py in (f, *a, **k)
186 # but it's overkill for just that one bit of state.
187 def magic_deco(arg):
--> 188 call = lambda f, *a, **k: f(*a, **k)
189
190 if callable(arg):

/usr/local/lib/python3.6/dist-packages/IPython/core/magics/pylab.py in matplotlib(self, line)
98 print("Available matplotlib backends: %s" % backends_list)
99 else:
--> 100 gui, backend = self.shell.enable_matplotlib(args.gui)
101 self._show_matplotlib_backend(args.gui, backend)
102

/usr/local/lib/python3.6/dist-packages/IPython/core/interactiveshell.py in enable_matplotlib(self, gui)
2948 gui, backend = pt.find_gui_and_backend(self.pylab_gui_select)
2949
-> 2950 pt.activate_matplotlib(backend)
2951 pt.configure_inline_support(self, backend)
2952

/usr/local/lib/python3.6/dist-packages/IPython/core/pylabtools.py in activate_matplotlib(backend)
307
308 import matplotlib.pyplot
--> 309 matplotlib.pyplot.switch_backend(backend)
310
311 # This must be imported last in the matplotlib series, after

[craigcitro]

Ah, it looks like we need to install python3-tk by default to make %matplotlib work. I'll work on getting that added.

That said, I don't know how well any of the other MPL backends will work in Colab -- what are you trying to do? 😀

[marksandler2]

the only type of matplotlib backend that is supported is
%matplotlib inline,

anything else can't possibly work with remote runtimes since it requires x-forwarding

[Nestak2]

Now, that Ipywidgets support has been added to colab is this issue solved? I still can't create interactive plots in colab with %matplotlib notebook.

[blois]

At a glance, %matplotlib notebook doesn't use widgets directly but instead uses the IPython.notebook.kernel.comm_manager API. It also requires jquery to be present.

From jupyterlab/jupyterlab#2948 it looks like JupyterLab is now requiring %matplotlib ipympl. This leverages the widget module 'jupyter-matplotlib' which is currently not supported in Colab.