ImportError: No module named pynput

Question

so I installed pynput (pip install pynput) but it is still giving me an error that I didn't install it. Is there a reason for this? Thanks.

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "test.py", line 1, in <module>
    from pynput import mouse
ImportError: No module named pynput

Did you install it into the Python environment you're using in VSCode? — MattDMo, Sep 11 '21 at 22:57
Perhaps you installed the module for python 2 and your script is using python 3? — Oli, Sep 11 '21 at 22:58
I don't know, how would I do it. All I ran was: pip install pynput — FishyMine, Sep 11 '21 at 22:59
If `pip3 install pynput` fails because pip3 doesn't exist, then the suggestion in my previous comment isn't the problem — Oli, Sep 11 '21 at 23:03

Joran Beasley · Accepted Answer · 2021-09-11T23:04:20.883

1

your pip install was pointing to a different python version than the one thats running that script

you can usually solve this by doing python -m pip install <package> (which will make sure to install it for the python version that python points to)

if you are just using system python try using python3 -m pip install XXX as pip by itself is probably referencing python2

if you are using a virtualenv in vscode you will need to activate that version with <venv_path>/bin/activate then you can run python -m pip install XXXX

edited Sep 11 '21 at 23:04

answered Sep 11 '21 at 22:58

Joran Beasley

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``` Traceback (most recent call last): File "/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/runpy.py", line 163, in _run_module_as_main mod_name, _Error) File "/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/runpy.py", line 111, in _get_module_details __import__(mod_name) # Do not catch exceptions initializing package File "/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/pip-21.1.2-py2.7.egg/pip/__init__.py", line 1, in from typing import List, Optional ImportError: No module named typing ``` – FishyMine Sep 11 '21 at 23:00
`python` must be pointing to python2 ... try my other suggestion`python3` (but at a guess if you are in vscode it is using a virtualenv, which you need to activate before running that command) – Joran Beasley Sep 11 '21 at 23:02
Its working now! Thank you so much. I had to run python3 test.py – FishyMine Sep 11 '21 at 23:04
@FishyMine: Another way to do a similar thing is to use `pip3 install ` instead of `python3 -m pip install `. – Sylvester Kruin Sep 11 '21 at 23:04
@SamMatzko in my experience especially for newer developers using `python -m pip` instead helps them avoid this problem much better – Joran Beasley Sep 11 '21 at 23:05
@JoranBeasley: Just wondering: how is it different, other than syntax? – Sylvester Kruin Sep 11 '21 at 23:06
it just helps ensure that you are usiing the python you expect :P – Joran Beasley Sep 11 '21 at 23:07
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`python -m pip` will use the version of Python that `python` currently refers to; `pip` will use whichever version `pip` currently refers to. These can differ due to a misconfigured PATH, and possibly other reasons I'm not thinking of right now. `python3` and `pip3` will get *some* 3.x installation even if `python` and `pip` respectively would use a 2.x installation, but there are still other issues. We really need some kind of master post on managing multiple Python installations (and venvs). – Karl Knechtel Sep 11 '21 at 23:10
@KarlKnechtel put it much better than I did – Joran Beasley Sep 11 '21 at 23:11
Another issue is that on Windows, `pip` can't upgrade itself, due to (as I understand it) how Windows implements protection against self-modifying executables. `python -m pip` will work because it's now `python.exe` that's running, rather than the `pip.exe` wrapper executable. – Karl Knechtel Sep 11 '21 at 23:11
@KarlKnechtel: Ah, that makes sense. – Sylvester Kruin Sep 11 '21 at 23:22

ImportError: No module named pynput

1 Answers1