python error: no module named pylab

Question

I am new to Python and want to use its plot functionality to create graphs. I am using ubuntu 12.04. I followed the Python installation steps from http://eli.thegreenplace.net/2011/10/10/installing-python-2-7-on-ubuntu/ but when I do

from pylab import *

I am getting this error

>>> from pylab import *
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
ImportError: No module named pylab

My Python version is python 2.7. Can anybody tell me what I am missing here?

Answer 1

You'll need to install numpy, scipy and matplotlib to get pylab. In ubuntu you can install them with this command:

sudo apt-get install python-numpy python-scipy python-matplotlib

If you installed python from source you will need to install these packages through pip. Note that you may have to install other dependencies to do this, as well as install numpy before the other two.

That said, I would recommend using the version of python in the repositories as I think it is up to date with the current version of python (2.7.3).