Plot a bar using matplotlib using a dictionary

You can do it in two lines by first plotting the bar chart and then setting the appropriate ticks:

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

D = {u'Label1':26, u'Label2': 17, u'Label3':30}

plt.bar(range(len(D)), list(D.values()), align='center')
plt.xticks(range(len(D)), list(D.keys()))
# # for python 2.x:
# plt.bar(range(len(D)), D.values(), align='center')  # python 2.x
# plt.xticks(range(len(D)), D.keys())  # in python 2.x

plt.show()

Note that the penultimate line should read plt.xticks(range(len(D)), list(D.keys())) in python3, because D.keys() returns a generator, which matplotlib cannot use directly.

It's a little simpler than most answers here suggest:

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

D = {u'Label1':26, u'Label2': 17, u'Label3':30}
plt.bar(*zip(*D.items()))
plt.show()