Cannot install Matplotlib on Python 3.10

python3.10 -m pip install --user matplotlib

I keep getting the following error when I run the above to install Matplotlib. I was initially getting a C++ error and I installed Visual Studio.

Time Elapsed 00:00:00.36
    error: command 'C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\msbuild.exe' failed with exit code 1
    ----------------------------------------
ERROR: Command errored out with exit status 1:
'C:UsersHPAppDataLocalMicrosoftWindowsAppsPythonSoftwareFoundation.Python.3.10_qbz5n2kfra8p0python.exe' -u -c 'import io, os, sys, setuptools, tokenize; sys.argv[0] = '"'"'C:\Users\HP\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-install-zq_i4lrq\matplotlib_ce44358747c74e83a93eefbdd122f13e\setup.py'"'"'; __file__='"'"'C:\Users\HP\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-install-zq_i4lrq\matplotlib_ce44358747c74e83a93eefbdd122f13e\setup.py'"'"';f = getattr(tokenize, '"'"'open'"'"', open)(__file__) if os.path.exists(__file__) else io.StringIO('"'"'from setuptools import setup; setup()'"'"');code = f.read().replace('"'"'rn'"'"', '"'"'n'"'"');f.close();exec(compile(code, __file__, '"'"'exec'"'"'))' install --record 'C:UsersHPAppDataLocalTemppip-record-yvrkad5minstall-record.txt' --single-version-externally-managed --user --prefix= --compile --install-headers 'C:UsersHPAppDataLocalPackagesPythonSoftwareFoundation.Python.3.10_qbz5n2kfra8p0LocalCachelocal-packagesPython310Includematplotlib'
Check the logs for full command output.

Answer

Matplotlib doesn’t support Python 3.10 at the moment, so you have the following options.

1. See this answer for detailed instructions to downgrade to Python 3.9.
2. Install the pre-release version of Matplotlib which does support Python 3.10. This can be done with the command pip install matplotlib==3.5.0rc1 (and is what I would recommend doing).