noob can't install python modules/scripts

[lostguru]

hi, I'm not that new to programming (java) but I'm a pathetic newbie when it comes to python. I just started learning today and I'm trying to install third-party modules/scripts (I don't know the difference at the moment) so that they'll work in python; namely, easy_install/pip/distribute and beautifulsoup4

python version is 2.7.3; platform is windows 7, 64-bit

when I first installed python, I couldn't get it to run from the command line just by typing "python"; installing activepython (also 64-bit) seemed tohave solved the problem (I later added C:\Python27 and C:\Python27\Scriptsto the %PATH% environmental variable, not sure if this changed anything however)

the only problem now is that I can't install any modules for python (that or they're installed and not working); I'm aware that my 64-bit installationneeds the respective 64-bit versions of all of the modules I want installed, so I made sure to download those; but running/installing all of those has yielded no reaction

using easy_install as an example, I downloaded the .py script the website told me to use for 64-bit installations, and ran it; as far as I know nothing happened (was I supposed to put it in a specific folder first before running it?) and trying to type "easy_install" into python gives me this:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<pyshell#0>", line 1, in <module>
easy_install
NameError: name 'easy_install' is not defined

trying to type "easy_install BeautifulSoup4" gives me this:
SyntaxError: invalid syntax

I'm at a loss as to why none of this works; did I not set up Python correctly? or was there some step I missed/ignored? any help or input would be much appreciated at this stage

 

[lostguru]

I guess I should add that the python installation is 64-bit as well


thanks again!

 

[Steven D'Aprano]

using easy_install as an example, I downloaded the .py script the
website told me to use for 64-bit installations, and ran it;

"The website"? There's more than one website on the Internet. Which
website are you referring to? What .py script did you download? How did
you run it? Details are important!

as far as I
know nothing happened (was I supposed to put it in a specific folder
first before running it?) and trying to type "easy_install" into python
gives me this:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<pyshell#0>", line 1, in <module>
easy_install
NameError: name 'easy_install' is not defined

trying to type "easy_install BeautifulSoup4" gives me this:
SyntaxError: invalid syntax

It looks like you tried to run the easy_install command from inside the
Python interactive interpreter, rather than from your system shell.

The system shell (command.com or cmd.exe I guess) will have a $ or % sign
as the prompt. Python usually has >>> as the prompt, although if you are
running ActivePython it may be something else. You need to run the
"easy_install BeautifulSoup4" command from the system shell, not Python.


Try that, and if there's another error, please copy and paste the exact
command you used, and the full error message.

 

[lostguru]

"The website"? There's more than one website on the Internet. Which

website are you referring to? What .py script did you download? How did

you run it? Details are important!

sorry about that; I was using the setuptools package from pypi python [ http://pypi.python.org/pypi/setuptools ]; I downloaded the ez_setup.py file from under the 64-bit windows installation section and ran that (by double clicking on it, I hope this wasn't another noob mistake lol)

It looks like you tried to run the easy_install command from inside the

Python interactive interpreter, rather than from your system shell.



The system shell (command.com or cmd.exe I guess) will have a $ or % sign

as the prompt. Python usually has >>> as the prompt, although if you are

running ActivePython it may be something else. You need to run the

"easy_install BeautifulSoup4" command from the system shell, not Python.





Try that, and if there's another error, please copy and paste the exact

command you used, and the full error message.

running easy_install from the command line worked and BeautifulSoup4 seems to have installed, thanks for pointing out my mistake

the only problem I have now is that importing beautifulsoup into a .py fileI wrote generates an error (I'm using ActiveState Komodo Edit 7, is there another program you would recommend to a beginner like me?)

trying to run the script gives an import error:
ImportError: No module named BeautifulSoup

importing other modules like os and urllib that came with the python installation work without problems

looking online, all I've found were other accounts talking about a beautifulsoup.py that should be in the C:\Python27\Lib\site-packages directory, butI've found no such thing from the installation anywhere in the Python folder (funnily enough, I did a drive search with Everything and found a BeautifulSoup.py in my autodesk maya installation)

am I somewhere near the mark? or am I off completely?

 

[lostguru]

You should read the BeautifulSoup tutorial/documentation.  If I remember correctly you do 
from bs4 import BeautifulSoup

Look at this tutorial to get started: http://www.crummy.com/software/BeautifulSoup/bs4/doc/

ah got it, I was told to use import -modulename- for pretty much everythingby a classmate; I'll definitely look into the documentation


thanks again for the help guys

 

[lostguru]

You should read the BeautifulSoup tutorial/documentation.  If I remember correctly you do 
from bs4 import BeautifulSoup

Look at this tutorial to get started: http://www.crummy.com/software/BeautifulSoup/bs4/doc/

ah got it, I was told to use import -modulename- for pretty much everythingby a classmate; I'll definitely look into the documentation


thanks again for the help guys

 

[Dennis Lee Bieber]

sorry about that; I was using the setuptools package from pypi python [ http://pypi.python.org/pypi/setuptools ]; I downloaded the ez_setup.py file from under the 64-bit windows installation section and ran that (by double clicking on it, I hope this wasn't another noob mistake lol)

It could be... Many downloaded installation packages want you to
manually run a "setup.py" program with a command line argument...
Something like:

python setup.py install

You'd have to read the documentation provided by the package to find
out.