configparser not working in Python 3.4, NoSectionError but works fine in PyCharm

Question

I worked on a Python 3.4 script in PyCharm 4.5. (repo: https://github.com/Djidiouf/bbot ) In it, I used import configparser without any problem for retrieving some values in a config.cfg:

config = configparser.RawConfigParser()
config.read('config.cfg')
server = config.get('bot_configuration', 'server')
channel = config.get('bot_configuration', 'channel')
botnick = config.get('bot_configuration', 'botnick')
port = config.getint('bot_configuration', 'port')

Now, I want to deploy it on a Debian 8.1 server. On that server, I have both Python 2.7 and Python 3.4 versions installed.

But when I ran the script on the machine, I have the following issue:

djidiouf@linuxserver:/home/djidiouf# /usr/bin/python3.4 /home/djidiouf/bbot/bbot.py
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/lib/python3.4/configparser.py", line 1116, in _unify_values
    sectiondict = self._sections[section]
KeyError: 'bot_configuration'

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/home/djidiouf/bbot/bbot.py", line 25, in <module>
    import modules.steam  # Contains specific Steam-Valve related functions
File "/home/djidiouf/bbot/modules/steam.py", line 13, in <module>
    import modules.connection
File "/home/djidiouf/bbot/modules/connection.py", line 37, in <module>
    server = config.get('bot_configuration', 'server')
File "/usr/lib/python3.4/configparser.py", line 754, in get
    d = self._unify_values(section, vars)
File "/usr/lib/python3.4/configparser.py", line 1119, in _unify_values
    raise NoSectionError(section)
configparser.NoSectionError: No section: 'bot_configuration'

I made a lot of research on Internet about that but I didn't find anything valuable. Some people made mention about a corrupt config.cfg file but mine is a LF EOL file with UTF8 without BOM as needed. I also recreated it again with vi on the machine.

I also tried to install configparser with pip (even if, if I understand it well, it's now build-in in Python 3) : pip3 install configparser But when I do that, I have the following error:

djidiouf@linuxserver:/home/djidiouf# sudo pip3 install -v configparser
[sudo] password for djidiouf:
Downloading/unpacking configparser
Ignoring link https://pypi.python.org/packages/source/c/configparser/configparser-3.5.0b1.tar.gz#md5=d60ca2c714acb4adaf5818c6a1ffd78b (from https://pypi.python.org/simple/configparser/), version 3.5.0b1 is a pre-release (use --pre to allow).
Ignoring link https://pypi.python.org/packages/source/c/configparser/configparser-3.5.0b2.tar.gz#md5=ad2a71db8bd9a017ed4735eac7acfa07 (from https://pypi.python.org/simple/configparser/), version 3.5.0b2 is a pre-release (use --pre to allow).
Using version 3.3.0r2 (newest of versions: 3.3.0r2, 3.3.0r1, 3.2.0r3, 3.2.0r2, 3.2.0r1)
Downloading configparser-3.3.0r2.tar.gz
Downloading from URL https://pypi.python.org/packages/source/c/configparser/configparser-3.3.0r2.tar.gz#md5=dda0e6a43e9d8767b36d10f1e6770f09 (from https://pypi.python.org/simple/configparser/)
Running setup.py (path:/tmp/pip-build-v7av3db7/configparser/setup.py) egg_info for package configparser
    Traceback (most recent call last):
    File "<string>", line 3, in <module>
    File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/setuptools/__init__.py", line 5, in <module>
        import distutils.core
    File "/usr/lib/python3.4/distutils/core.py", line 18, in <module>
        from distutils.config import PyPIRCCommand
    File "/usr/lib/python3.4/distutils/config.py", line 7, in <module>
        from configparser import ConfigParser
    File "/tmp/pip-build-v7av3db7/configparser/configparser.py", line 397
        _KEYCRE = re.compile(ur"%\(([^)]+)\)s")
                                            ^
    SyntaxError: invalid syntax
    Complete output from command python setup.py egg_info:
    Traceback (most recent call last):

File "<string>", line 3, in <module>

File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/setuptools/__init__.py", line 5, in <module>

    import distutils.core

File "/usr/lib/python3.4/distutils/core.py", line 18, in <module>

    from distutils.config import PyPIRCCommand

File "/usr/lib/python3.4/distutils/config.py", line 7, in <module>

    from configparser import ConfigParser

File "/tmp/pip-build-v7av3db7/configparser/configparser.py", line 397

    _KEYCRE = re.compile(ur"%\(([^)]+)\)s")

                                        ^

SyntaxError: invalid syntax

----------------------------------------
Cleaning up...
Command python setup.py egg_info failed with error code 1 in /tmp/pip-build-v7av3db7/configparser
Exception information:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/basecommand.py", line 122, in main
    status = self.run(options, args)
File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/commands/install.py", line 290, in run
    requirement_set.prepare_files(finder, force_root_egg_info=self.bundle, bundle=self.bundle)
File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/req.py", line 1230, in prepare_files
    req_to_install.run_egg_info()
File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/req.py", line 326, in run_egg_info
    command_desc='python setup.py egg_info')
File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/util.py", line 716, in call_subprocess
    % (command_desc, proc.returncode, cwd))
pip.exceptions.InstallationError: Command python setup.py egg_info failed with error code 1 in /tmp/pip-build-v7av3db7/configparser

Storing debug log for failure in /root/.pip/pip.log

Here is a config example, I just changed the values and rename the file accordingly to config.cfg :

[bot_configuration]
server = your.irc.server.com
channel = ##your_channel
botnick = bbot
port = 6667
admins = You,Him

https://github.com/Djidiouf/bbot/blob/master/config_example.cfg

Finally, I just want to say that everything is working on PyCharm 4.5, I just made a git clone, rename the config_example.cfg, change the values, tried to run the script with Python 3.4.

Padraic Cunningham · Answer 1 · 2015-08-21T00:52:40.720

2

The install error is from _KEYCRE = re.compile(ur"%\(([^)]+)\)s"), that is causing a syntax error as the ur prefix is not supported in python3, pip is trying to instal a python2 package.

Your first error is a keyError 'bot_configuration' which is not because of not having configparser installed, configparser is part of the standard library.

The bot_configuration KeyError is because python cannot find your config file, if you use config.read('foobar') in pycharm you will see the exact same output

edited Aug 21 '15 at 00:52

answered Aug 21 '15 at 00:17

Padraic Cunningham

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In PyCharm where I developed my script, my python interpreter is 3.4.3 without any doubt. – Djidiouf Aug 21 '15 at 00:20
@Djidiouf, exactly that is my point, `ur` is not supported in python3, it should simply be `r` – Padraic Cunningham Aug 21 '15 at 00:21
Can you be more specific about what is going wrong in my code or my setup and why it's working well on PyCharm and not on my server? – Djidiouf Aug 21 '15 at 00:23
The error is not because of `configparser` not being installed, the errors are all coming from the original KeyError – Padraic Cunningham Aug 21 '15 at 00:30
Thank you for your explanation about my pip3 error. But how can I use configparser on python3? – Djidiouf Aug 21 '15 at 00:31
@Djidiouf, I edited the answer, your config file cannot be found, pass the full path and I bet it will work – Padraic Cunningham Aug 21 '15 at 00:54
In the meantime, I reinstalled python3.4 and it's working now. I think with my installation of configparser with pip, I messed things in Python 3.4 builtin configparser as pip tried to install a python2 package as you warned me. Thx! (can't upvote you as I don't have enough reputation myself, sorry) – Djidiouf Aug 21 '15 at 01:25

score 1 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 11:43

I figured out that I had some inconsistency about running the script. When I was in another folder than my script, nothing worked but when I was in it, it worked. Perhaps because the config file is shared and used in the main script and in a module. In fact it's due to the need to have an absolute path in config.read('/some/path/file.cfg')

Finally, I find that answer: https://stackoverflow.com/a/13800583/3301370

So here is the solution in the case of config.cfg being on the project root directory /config.cfg :

/bbot.py

import os
config.read(os.path.join(os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(__file__)), 'config.cfg'))

However, as the config file is shared and used in the main script and in a subpath, module, a correct path must be set for the sub module too:

/modules/connection.py

import os
config.read(os.path.join(os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(__file__)), '..', 'config.cfg'))

It works fine in PyCharm because when you hit the run button for your script, it runs it with the path of the project. The fact that having a relative path for both config.read() statements worked only because of that.

The problem with installing configparser with pip is unrelated to that specific problem and can be ignore in that case as configparser is a built-in library in Python3.

*your config file cannot be found, pass the full path and I bet it will work* — Padraic Cunningham, Aug 24 '15 at 08:28

configparser not working in Python 3.4, NoSectionError but works fine in PyCharm

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