diff --git a/doc/sphinxext/github.py b/doc/sphinxext/github.py
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ def make_link_node(rawtext, app, type, slug, options):
             base += '/'
     except AttributeError as err:
         raise ValueError(
-            f'github_project_url configuration value is not set '
+            'github_project_url configuration value is not set '
             f'({err})') from err
 
     ref = base + type + '/' + slug + '/'
@@ -143,7 +143,7 @@ def ghcommit_role(
             base += '/'
     except AttributeError as err:
         raise ValueError(
-            f'github_project_url configuration value is not set '
+            'github_project_url configuration value is not set '
             f'({err})') from err
 
     ref = base + text

diff --git a/doc/sphinxext/redirect_from.py b/doc/sphinxext/redirect_from.py
@@ -109,9 +109,9 @@ def _generate_redirects(app, exception):
         html = HTML_TEMPLATE.format(v=builder.get_relative_uri(k, v))
         if p.is_file():
             if p.read_text() != html:
-                logger.warning(f'A redirect-from directive is trying to '
+                logger.warning('A redirect-from directive is trying to '
                                f'create {p}, but that file already exists '
-                               f'(perhaps you need to run "make clean")')
+                               '(perhaps you need to run "make clean")')
         else:
             logger.info(f'making refresh html file: {k} redirect to {v}')
             p.parent.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)

diff --git a/examples/widgets/annotated_cursor.py b/examples/widgets/annotated_cursor.py
@@ -239,7 +239,7 @@ def set_position(self, xpos, ypos):
             lim = self.ax.get_ylim()
         else:
             raise ValueError(f"The data axis specifier {self.dataaxis} should "
-                             f"be 'x' or 'y'")
+                             "be 'x' or 'y'")
 
         # If position is valid and in valid plot data range.
         if pos is not None and lim[0] <= pos <= lim[-1]:

diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/__init__.py b/lib/matplotlib/__init__.py
@@ -428,7 +428,7 @@ def impl(args, regex, min_ver=None, ignore_exit_code=False):
                 parse_version("0.9") <= info.version < parse_version("1.0")):
             raise ExecutableNotFoundError(
                 f"You have pdftops version {info.version} but the minimum "
-                f"version supported by Matplotlib is 3.0")
+                "version supported by Matplotlib is 3.0")
         return info
     else:
         raise ValueError("Unknown executable: {!r}".format(name))
@@ -650,7 +650,7 @@ def __setitem__(self, key, val):
         except KeyError as err:
             raise KeyError(
                 f"{key} is not a valid rc parameter (see rcParams.keys() for "
-                f"a list of valid parameters)") from err
+                "a list of valid parameters)") from err
 
     def __getitem__(self, key):
         if key in _deprecated_map:
@@ -1211,9 +1211,9 @@ def _init_tests():
     if (ft2font.__freetype_version__ != LOCAL_FREETYPE_VERSION or
             ft2font.__freetype_build_type__ != 'local'):
         _log.warning(
-            f"Matplotlib is not built with the correct FreeType version to "
-            f"run tests.  Rebuild without setting system_freetype=1 in "
-            f"mplsetup.cfg.  Expect many image comparison failures below.  "
+            "Matplotlib is not built with the correct FreeType version to "
+            "run tests.  Rebuild without setting system_freetype=1 in "
+            "mplsetup.cfg.  Expect many image comparison failures below.  "
             f"Expected freetype version {LOCAL_FREETYPE_VERSION}.  "
             f"Found freetype version {ft2font.__freetype_version__}.  "
             "Freetype build type is {}local".format(

diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/_api/deprecation.py b/lib/matplotlib/_api/deprecation.py
@@ -292,7 +292,7 @@ def wrapper(*args, **kwargs):
             warn_deprecated(
                 since, message=f"The {old!r} parameter of {func.__name__}() "
                 f"has been renamed {new!r} since Matplotlib {since}; support "
-                f"for the old name will be dropped %(removal)s.")
+                "for the old name will be dropped %(removal)s.")
             kwargs[new] = kwargs.pop(old)
         return func(*args, **kwargs)
 
@@ -385,21 +385,21 @@ def wrapper(*inner_args, **inner_kwargs):
         arguments = signature.bind(*inner_args, **inner_kwargs).arguments
         if is_varargs and arguments.get(name):
             warn_deprecated(
-                since, message=f"Additional positional arguments to "
+                since, message="Additional positional arguments to "
                 f"{func.__name__}() are deprecated since %(since)s and "
-                f"support for them will be removed %(removal)s.")
+                "support for them will be removed %(removal)s.")
         elif is_varkwargs and arguments.get(name):
             warn_deprecated(
-                since, message=f"Additional keyword arguments to "
+                since, message="Additional keyword arguments to "
                 f"{func.__name__}() are deprecated since %(since)s and "
-                f"support for them will be removed %(removal)s.")
+                "support for them will be removed %(removal)s.")
         # We cannot just check `name not in arguments` because the pyplot
         # wrappers always pass all arguments explicitly.
         elif any(name in d and d[name] != _deprecated_parameter
                  for d in [arguments, arguments.get(kwargs_name, {})]):
             deprecation_addendum = (
                 f"If any parameter follows {name!r}, they should be passed as "
-                f"keyword, not positionally.")
+                "keyword, not positionally.")
             warn_deprecated(
                 since,
                 name=repr(name),

diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/axes/_axes.py b/lib/matplotlib/axes/_axes.py
@@ -2401,15 +2401,15 @@ def bar(self, x, height, width=0.8, bottom=None, *, align="center",
                 except TypeError as e:
                     raise TypeError(f'the dtypes of parameters x ({x.dtype}) '
                                     f'and width ({width.dtype}) '
-                                    f'are incompatible') from e
+                                    'are incompatible') from e
                 bottom = y
             elif orientation == 'horizontal':
                 try:
                     bottom = y - height / 2
                 except TypeError as e:
                     raise TypeError(f'the dtypes of parameters y ({y.dtype}) '
                                     f'and height ({height.dtype}) '
-                                    f'are incompatible') from e
+                                    'are incompatible') from e
                 left = x
         elif align == 'edge':
             left = x
@@ -3391,7 +3391,7 @@ def _upcast_err(err):
             else:
                 raise ValueError(
                     f'errorevery={errorevery!r} is a not a tuple of two '
-                    f'integers')
+                    'integers')
         elif isinstance(errorevery, slice):
             pass
         elif not isinstance(errorevery, str) and np.iterable(errorevery):
@@ -3401,7 +3401,7 @@ def _upcast_err(err):
             except (ValueError, IndexError) as err:
                 raise ValueError(
                     f"errorevery={errorevery!r} is iterable but not a valid "
-                    f"NumPy fancy index to match 'xerr'/'yerr'") from err
+                    "NumPy fancy index to match 'xerr'/'yerr'") from err
         else:
             raise ValueError(
                 f"errorevery={errorevery!r} is not a recognized value")
@@ -3502,7 +3502,7 @@ def apply_mask(arrays, mask): return [array[mask] for array in arrays]
             except ValueError:
                 raise ValueError(
                     f"'{dep_axis}err' (shape: {np.shape(err)}) must be a "
-                    f"scalar or a 1D or (2, n) array-like whose shape matches "
+                    "scalar or a 1D or (2, n) array-like whose shape matches "
                     f"'{dep_axis}' (shape: {np.shape(dep)})") from None
             if np.any(err < -err):  # like err<0, but also works for timedelta.
                 raise ValueError(
@@ -4296,8 +4296,8 @@ def invalid_shape_exception(csize, xsize):
                     # Both the mapping *and* the RGBA conversion failed: pretty
                     # severe failure => one may appreciate a verbose feedback.
                     raise ValueError(
-                        f"'c' argument must be a color, a sequence of colors, "
-                        f"or a sequence of numbers, not {c}") from err
+                        "'c' argument must be a color, a sequence of colors, "
+                        f"or a sequence of numbers, not {c!r}") from err
             else:
                 if len(colors) not in (0, 1, xsize):
                     # NB: remember that a single color is also acceptable.
@@ -6603,7 +6603,7 @@ def hist(self, x, bins=None, range=None, density=False, weights=None,
         else:
             color = mcolors.to_rgba_array(color)
             if len(color) != nx:
-                raise ValueError(f"The 'color' keyword argument must have one "
+                raise ValueError("The 'color' keyword argument must have one "
                                  f"color per dataset, but {nx} datasets and "
                                  f"{len(color)} colors were provided")
 

diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/axes/_base.py b/lib/matplotlib/axes/_base.py
@@ -272,12 +272,12 @@ def __call__(self, *args, data=None, **kwargs):
                     if replaced[1] is not args[1]:  # case 2a)
                         _api.warn_external(
                             f"Second argument {args[1]!r} is ambiguous: could "
-                            f"be a format string but is in 'data'; using as "
-                            f"data.  If it was intended as data, set the "
-                            f"format string to an empty string to suppress "
-                            f"this warning.  If it was intended as a format "
-                            f"string, explicitly pass the x-values as well.  "
-                            f"Alternatively, rename the entry in 'data'.",
+                            "be a format string but is in 'data'; using as "
+                            "data.  If it was intended as data, set the "
+                            "format string to an empty string to suppress "
+                            "this warning.  If it was intended as a format "
+                            "string, explicitly pass the x-values as well.  "
+                            "Alternatively, rename the entry in 'data'.",
                             RuntimeWarning)
                         label_namer_idx = 1
                     else:  # case 2b)
@@ -479,7 +479,7 @@ def _plot_args(self, tup, kwargs, return_kwargs=False):
                         f"{prop_name} is redundantly defined by the "
                         f"'{prop_name}' keyword argument and the fmt string "
                         f'"{fmt}" (-> {prop_name}={val!r}). The keyword '
-                        f"argument will take precedence.")
+                        "argument will take precedence.")
                 kw[prop_name] = val
 
         if len(xy) == 2:
@@ -494,10 +494,10 @@ def _plot_args(self, tup, kwargs, return_kwargs=False):
             self.axes.yaxis.update_units(y)
 
         if x.shape[0] != y.shape[0]:
-            raise ValueError(f"x and y must have same first dimension, but "
+            raise ValueError("x and y must have same first dimension, but "
                              f"have shapes {x.shape} and {y.shape}")
         if x.ndim > 2 or y.ndim > 2:
-            raise ValueError(f"x and y can be no greater than 2D, but have "
+            raise ValueError("x and y can be no greater than 2D, but have "
                              f"shapes {x.shape} and {y.shape}")
         if x.ndim == 1:
             x = x[:, np.newaxis]
@@ -520,8 +520,8 @@ def _plot_args(self, tup, kwargs, return_kwargs=False):
         n_datasets = max(ncx, ncy)
         if n_datasets > 1 and not cbook.is_scalar_or_string(label):
             if len(label) != n_datasets:
-                raise ValueError(f"label must be scalar or have the same "
-                                 f"length as the input data, but found "
+                raise ValueError("label must be scalar or have the same "
+                                 "length as the input data, but found "
                                  f"{len(label)} for {n_datasets} datasets.")
             labels = label
         else:
@@ -2109,7 +2109,7 @@ def axis(self, *args, emit=True, **kwargs):
             self.set_xlim(xmin, xmax, emit=emit, auto=xauto)
             self.set_ylim(ymin, ymax, emit=emit, auto=yauto)
         if kwargs:
-            raise TypeError(f"axis() got an unexpected keyword argument "
+            raise TypeError("axis() got an unexpected keyword argument "
                             f"'{next(iter(kwargs))}'")
         return (*self.get_xlim(), *self.get_ylim())
 
@@ -3477,10 +3477,10 @@ def set_xlabel(self, xlabel, fontdict=None, labelpad=None, *,
         protected_kw = ['x', 'horizontalalignment', 'ha']
         if {*kwargs} & {*protected_kw}:
             if loc is not None:
-                raise TypeError(f"Specifying 'loc' is disallowed when any of "
-                                f"its corresponding low level keyword "
+                raise TypeError("Specifying 'loc' is disallowed when any of "
+                                "its corresponding low level keyword "
                                 f"arguments ({protected_kw}) are also "
-                                f"supplied")
+                                "supplied")
 
         else:
             loc = (loc if loc is not None
@@ -3766,10 +3766,10 @@ def set_ylabel(self, ylabel, fontdict=None, labelpad=None, *,
         protected_kw = ['y', 'horizontalalignment', 'ha']
         if {*kwargs} & {*protected_kw}:
             if loc is not None:
-                raise TypeError(f"Specifying 'loc' is disallowed when any of "
-                                f"its corresponding low level keyword "
+                raise TypeError("Specifying 'loc' is disallowed when any of "
+                                "its corresponding low level keyword "
                                 f"arguments ({protected_kw}) are also "
-                                f"supplied")
+                                "supplied")
 
         else:
             loc = (loc if loc is not None

diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/backend_bases.py b/lib/matplotlib/backend_bases.py
@@ -1543,7 +1543,7 @@ def _draw(renderer): raise Done(renderer)
             return renderer
         else:
             raise RuntimeError(f"{print_method} did not call Figure.draw, so "
-                               f"no renderer is available")
+                               "no renderer is available")
 
 
 def _no_output_draw(figure):
@@ -2775,7 +2775,7 @@ def show(self):
             return
         raise NonGuiException(
             f"Matplotlib is currently using {get_backend()}, which is a "
-            f"non-GUI backend, so cannot show the figure.")
+            "non-GUI backend, so cannot show the figure.")
 
     def destroy(self):
         pass

diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_pgf.py b/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_pgf.py
@@ -301,8 +301,8 @@ def __init__(self):
         except FileNotFoundError as err:
             raise RuntimeError(
                 f"{self.texcommand} not found.  Install it or change "
-                f"rcParams['pgf.texsystem'] to an available TeX "
-                f"implementation.") from err
+                "rcParams['pgf.texsystem'] to an available TeX "
+                "implementation.") from err
         except OSError as err:
             raise RuntimeError("Error starting process %r" %
                                self.texcommand) from err

diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_ps.py b/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_ps.py
@@ -691,7 +691,7 @@ def draw_mathtext(self, gc, x, y, s, prop, angle):
             self._text2path.mathtext_parser.parse(s, 72, prop)
         self.set_color(*gc.get_rgb())
         self._pswriter.write(
-            f"gsave\n"
+            "gsave\n"
             f"{x:g} {y:g} translate\n"
             f"{angle:g} rotate\n")
         lastfont = None
@@ -930,14 +930,14 @@ def print_figure_impl(fh):
             if is_eps:
                 print("%!PS-Adobe-3.0 EPSF-3.0", file=fh)
             else:
-                print(f"%!PS-Adobe-3.0\n"
+                print("%!PS-Adobe-3.0\n"
                       f"%%DocumentPaperSizes: {papertype}\n"
-                      f"%%Pages: 1\n",
+                      "%%Pages: 1\n",
                       end="", file=fh)
             print(f"{dsc_comments}\n"
                   f"%%Orientation: {orientation.name}\n"
                   f"{get_bbox_header(bbox)[0]}\n"
-                  f"%%EndComments\n",
+                  "%%EndComments\n",
                   end="", file=fh)
 
             Ndict = len(psDefs)

diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/cbook/__init__.py b/lib/matplotlib/cbook/__init__.py
@@ -2101,11 +2101,11 @@ def _check_and_log_subprocess(command, logger, **kwargs):
         if isinstance(stderr, bytes):
             stderr = stderr.decode()
         raise RuntimeError(
-            f"The command\n"
+            "The command\n"
             f"    {_pformat_subprocess(command)}\n"
-            f"failed and generated the following output:\n"
+            "failed and generated the following output:\n"
             f"{stdout}\n"
-            f"and the following error:\n"
+            "and the following error:\n"
             f"{stderr}")
     if proc.stdout:
         logger.debug("stdout:\n%s", proc.stdout)

diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/colors.py b/lib/matplotlib/colors.py
@@ -264,7 +264,7 @@ def _to_rgba_no_colorcycle(c, alpha=None):
             if not (0 <= c <= 1):
                 raise ValueError(
                     f"Invalid string grayscale value {orig_c!r}. "
-                    f"Value must be within 0-1 range")
+                    "Value must be within 0-1 range")
             return c, c, c, alpha if alpha is not None else 1.
         raise ValueError(f"Invalid RGBA argument: {orig_c!r}")
     # turn 2-D array into 1-D array

diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/dates.py b/lib/matplotlib/dates.py
@@ -1419,9 +1419,9 @@ def get_locator(self, dmin, dmax):
             else:
                 if not (self.interval_multiples and freq == DAILY):
                     _api.warn_external(
-                        f"AutoDateLocator was unable to pick an appropriate "
-                        f"interval for this date range. It may be necessary "
-                        f"to add an interval value to the AutoDateLocator's "
+                        "AutoDateLocator was unable to pick an appropriate "
+                        "interval for this date range. It may be necessary "
+                        "to add an interval value to the AutoDateLocator's "
                         f"intervald dictionary. Defaulting to {interval}.")
 
             # Set some parameters as appropriate

diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/dviread.py b/lib/matplotlib/dviread.py
@@ -878,11 +878,11 @@ def __getitem__(self, texname):
             return self._parsed[texname]
         except KeyError:
             raise LookupError(
-                f"An associated PostScript font (required by Matplotlib) "
+                "An associated PostScript font (required by Matplotlib) "
                 f"could not be found for TeX font {texname.decode('ascii')!r} "
                 f"in {self._filename!r}; this problem can often be solved by "
-                f"installing a suitable PostScript font package in your TeX "
-                f"package manager") from None
+                "installing a suitable PostScript font package in your TeX "
+                "package manager") from None
 
     def _parse_and_cache_line(self, line):
         """
@@ -1094,7 +1094,7 @@ def _find_tex_file(filename, format=None):
         return path
     else:
         raise FileNotFoundError(
-            f"Matplotlib's TeX implementation searched for a file named "
+            "Matplotlib's TeX implementation searched for a file named "
             f"{filename!r} in your texmf tree, but could not find it")
 
 
@@ -1108,7 +1108,7 @@ def find_tex_file(filename, format=None):
     except FileNotFoundError as exc:
         _api.warn_deprecated(
             "3.6", message=f"{exc.args[0]}; in the future, this will raise a "
-            f"FileNotFoundError.")
+            "FileNotFoundError.")
         return ""
 
 
@@ -1135,7 +1135,7 @@ def _fontfile(cls, suffix, texname):
     with Dvi(args.filename, args.dpi) as dvi:
         fontmap = PsfontsMap(_find_tex_file('pdftex.map'))
         for page in dvi:
-            print(f"=== new page === "
+            print("=== new page === "
                   f"(w: {page.width}, h: {page.height}, d: {page.descent})")
             for font, group in itertools.groupby(
                     page.text, lambda text: text.font):