Error in pip install matplotlib in Mac

Question

When I do

pip install matplotlib --upgrade --user

I dont get any error but my program fails saying

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "forest.py", line 22, in <module>
    matplotlib.style.use('ggplot')
AttributeError: 'module' object has no attribute 'style'

when I try to upgrade matplotlib without --user I get following error

$ pip install matplotlib --upgrade 
Collecting matplotlib
  Using cached matplotlib-1.5.2-cp27-cp27m-macosx_10_6_intel.macosx_10_9_intel.macosx_10_9_x86_64.macosx_10_10_intel.macosx_10_10_x86_64.whl
Requirement already up-to-date: cycler in /Users/vangapellisanthosh/Library/Python/2.7/lib/python/site-packages (from matplotlib)
Collecting pyparsing!=2.0.0,!=2.0.4,!=2.1.2,>=1.5.6 (from matplotlib)
  Using cached pyparsing-2.1.8-py2.py3-none-any.whl
Collecting pytz (from matplotlib)
  Using cached pytz-2016.6.1-py2.py3-none-any.whl
Collecting numpy>=1.6 (from matplotlib)
  Using cached numpy-1.11.1-cp27-cp27m-macosx_10_6_intel.macosx_10_9_intel.macosx_10_9_x86_64.macosx_10_10_intel.macosx_10_10_x86_64.whl
Collecting python-dateutil (from matplotlib)
  Using cached python_dateutil-2.5.3-py2.py3-none-any.whl
Collecting six (from cycler->matplotlib)
  Using cached six-1.10.0-py2.py3-none-any.whl
Installing collected packages: pyparsing, pytz, numpy, six, python-dateutil, matplotlib
  Found existing installation: pyparsing 2.0.1
    DEPRECATION: Uninstalling a distutils installed project (pyparsing) has been deprecated and will be removed in a future version. This is due to the fact that uninstalling a distutils project will only partially uninstall the project.
    Uninstalling pyparsing-2.0.1:
Exception:
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/pip-8.1.2-py2.7.egg/pip/basecommand.py", line 215, in main
    status = self.run(options, args)
  File "/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/pip-8.1.2-py2.7.egg/pip/commands/install.py", line 317, in run
    prefix=options.prefix_path,
  File "/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/pip-8.1.2-py2.7.egg/pip/req/req_set.py", line 736, in install
    requirement.uninstall(auto_confirm=True)
  File "/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/pip-8.1.2-py2.7.egg/pip/req/req_install.py", line 742, in uninstall
    paths_to_remove.remove(auto_confirm)
  File "/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/pip-8.1.2-py2.7.egg/pip/req/req_uninstall.py", line 115, in remove
    renames(path, new_path)
  File "/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/pip-8.1.2-py2.7.egg/pip/utils/__init__.py", line 267, in renames
    shutil.move(old, new)
  File "/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/shutil.py", line 302, in move
    copy2(src, real_dst)
  File "/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/shutil.py", line 131, in copy2
    copystat(src, dst)
  File "/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/shutil.py", line 103, in copystat
    os.chflags(dst, st.st_flags)
OSError: [Errno 1] Operation not permitted: '/var/folders/7j/19zzrqpn5dl6ghw1pms6k2m80000gp/T/pip-FEDiKY-uninstall/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/Extras/lib/python/pyparsing-2.0.1-py2.7.egg-info'

How do i solve it?

score 19 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 10:29

19

Try

sudo pip install matplotlib --upgrade --ignore-installed six

Using pip to install certain packages for OS X El Capitan or greater has spawned this generic problem. Hopefully this solution works for you as it has worked for me.

edited May 23 '17 at 10:29

Community

1
1

answered Oct 25 '16 at 15:12

kendama

223
1
9

Also, be sure to check that you upgrade to matplotlib version 1.4 or greater, as the `styles` feature is a fairly recent one. You can check this by typing in `matplotlib.__version__` – kendama Oct 25 '16 at 15:20
Thank you! This command helped a lot. I think the `six` component may not complete, so when upgrading, we just ignore it – Johnny Oct 13 '17 at 01:56

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 07 '16 at 13:24

It seems like your first error is because you are searching for style in matplotlib and not matplotlib.pyplot. Normally, it should work anyway but try this.

Try changing this:

matplotlib.style.use('ggplot')

By adding this in the beginning of your code:

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

Then use:

plt.style.use('ggplot')

For the second error, pip tries to uninstall pyparsing but somehow don't have the permission. If you are the administrator try using:

sudo pip install matplotlib --upgrade

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 26 '16 at 19:02

Building on Kendama's answer. I had the same issue on macOS (Exception during Uninstalling pyparsing-2.0.1) while installing mitmproxy. The following code fixed the error for me.

sudo pip install mitmproxy --upgrade --ignore-installed six

Just wanted to mention that this issue is not related just to matplotlib, but can occur when installing any software.

Error in pip install matplotlib in Mac

3 Answers3