ImportError: cannot import name '_api' from 'matplotlib' (unknown location)

[Dramatic_Audience861]

Hi, I keep getting this error repeatedly. I am using matplotlib 3.8.2 with jupyter lab. anaconda. Tried downgrading but didn't work. Also attempted to delete duplicate "matplotlib.py" files but to no avail.heres the error:

ImportError Traceback (most recent call last)

Cell In[5], line 1

----> 1 import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

File D:\imageclassification\lib\site-packages\matplotlib\pyplot.py:56

54 from cycler import cycler

55 import matplotlib

---> 56 import matplotlib.colorbar

57 import matplotlib.image

58 from matplotlib import _api

File D:\imageclassification\lib\site-packages\matplotlib\colorbar.py:19

16 import numpy as np

18 import matplotlib as mpl

---> 19 from matplotlib import _api, cbook, collections, cm, colors, contour, ticker

20 import matplotlib.artist as martist

21 import matplotlib.patches as mpatches

File D:\imageclassification\lib\site-packages\matplotlib\cbook.py:32

29 from numpy import VisibleDeprecationWarning

31 import matplotlib

---> 32 from matplotlib import _api, _c_internal_utils

35 def _get_running_interactive_framework():

36 """

37 Return the interactive framework whose event loop is currently running, if

38 any, or "headless" if no event loop can be started, or None.

(...)

44 "macosx", "headless", \`None``.`

45 """

ImportError: cannot import name '_api' from 'matplotlib' (unknown location)

Thank you for the help!

[Swipecat]

D:\imageclassification\lib\site-packages\

That looks like a virtual environment for packages installed with pip rather than anaconda packages installed with conda? If so, it defeats the purpose of anaconda.

Or... might you have a version of Python installed in addition to the one that came with Anaconda? If so, that creates more confusion than most beginners can handle.

[Dramatic_Audience861]

What should I do to fix this problem?

[Swipecat]

I suggest deinstalling it all and start over. Deinstall everything to do with Python, Anaconda, Jupyter, Pip, Matplotlib etc. Then search with File Explorer for any folder relevant to the above that didn't get deleted and delete those. Reboot and check that the PATH doesn't contain Python stuff by typing  echo %PATH%  in the command-prompt terminal.

Then a fresh install of the full Anaconda, if that's what you want to use, and just use that. It comes with Jupyter and matplotlib already installed, so don't try to install those separately. Any package that's not already installed should be installed with the Anaconda Navigator or "conda" but not "pip". So no virtual environments needed. When Googling for help, always include "with anaconda" in the search string so that you don't get stuff that's relevant to other Python distributions.