Installing Matplotlib using pip with the .whl extension

The usual way to download additional Python modules is by using pip. The pip module comes pre-installed with the latest version of Python (3.7 and above).

If you are using an older version of Python, you may have to download both pip and setuptools by yourself.

This recipe will show how to successfully install Matplotlib using pip. We will be using the .whl extension for this installation, so this recipe will also show you how to install the wheel module.

Getting ready

First, let's find out whether you have the wheel module already installed. The wheel module is necessary to download and install Python packages that have the .whl extension.

We can find out what modules...