Fix - NameError: name 'plt' is not defined in Python

Fix - NameError: name 'plt' is not defined in Python #

The Python "NameError: name 'plt' is not defined" occurs when we use the pyplot module without importing it first. To solve the error, install matplotlib and import plt (import matplotlib.pyplot as plt) before using it.

Open your terminal in your project's root directory and install the matplotlib module.

Copied!
# 👇️ in a virtual environment or using Python 2
pip install matplotlib

# 👇️ for python 3 (could also be pip3.10 depending on your version)
pip3 install matplotlib

# 👇️ if you get permissions error
sudo pip3 install matplotlib

# 👇️ if you don't have pip in your PATH environment variable
python -m pip install matplotlib

# 👇️ for python 3 (could also be pip3.10 depending on your version)
python3 -m pip install matplotlib

# 👇️ alternative for Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt-get install python3-matplotlib

# 👇️ alternative for CentOS
sudo yum install python3-matplotlib

# 👇️ alternative for Fedora
sudo yum install python3-matplotlib

# 👇️ for Anaconda
conda install -c conda-forge matplotlib

After you install the matplotlib module, make sure to import pyplot before using it.

Copied!
# 👇️ import pyplot and alias it as plt
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

fig, ax = plt.subplots()

print(fig)
print(ax)

We used an alias to import the pyplot module from matplotlib as plt.

We imported matplotlib.pyplot and aliased it to plt, so you would access any pyplot methods as plt.plot(), plt.ylabel(), plt.show(), etc.

Make sure you haven't misspelled the module you are importing because module names are case-sensitive.

Also, make sure you haven't placed your import statement in a nested scope, e.g. a function. Import the module at the top level to be able to use it throughout your code.