Cannot import Beautiful Soup

Question

I am trying to use BeautifulSoup, and despite using the import statement:

from bs4 import BeautifulSoup

I am getting the error: ImportError: cannot import name BeautifulSoup

import bs4 does not give any errors.

I have also tried import bs4.BeautifulSoup and just importing bs4 and creating a BeautifulSoup object with: bs4.BeautifulSoup()

Any guidance would be appreciated.

what operating system are you using? how did you install python? how did you install beautifulsoup4? — Mark Mikofski, Apr 27 '15 at 22:58
I am on a Linux server. I'm not sure about how either were installed as I am not an admin. I was just wondering if anyone had any ideas because I can not speak with an administrator until tomorrow. — , Apr 27 '15 at 23:04
try `from BeautifulSoup import BeautifulSoup` . Also, check if you have really installed it — rafaelc, Apr 27 '15 at 23:17
If `import bs4` works, what does `dir(bs4)` print? This will be a list of all the components (functions, classes, submodules, etc.) in `bs4`. — dimo414, Apr 28 '15 at 00:21
Check this answer - http://stackoverflow.com/a/16349505/4720017 — LittlePanda, Apr 28 '15 at 10:35

score 18 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 28 '15 at 16:25

18

The issue was I named the file HTMLParser.py , and that name is already used somewhere in the bs4 module.

Thanks to everyone that helped!

answered Apr 28 '15 at 16:25

6

Same thing happened to me, my Python file was called 'bs4.py' which threw the error. – Ruthus99 Feb 23 '17 at 09:29
the same error happened to me when I inadvertently deleted `__init__.py` from the bs4 site-packages folder. Even though I ran `pip uninstall bs4` and then `pip install bs4`, it didn't restore that file. – AlMo320 Sep 06 '22 at 23:01

score 8 · Answer 2 · edited Mar 06 '20 at 19:10

8

I found out after numerous attempts to solve the ImportError: cannot import name 'BeautifulSoup4' that the package is actually called BeautifulSoup so the import should be:

from bs4 import BeautifulSoup

edited Mar 06 '20 at 19:10

colidyre

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answered Mar 06 '20 at 18:47

githeko

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`from bs4 import BeautifulSoup` is already mentioned in OP's question. – colidyre Mar 06 '20 at 19:10
Another breaking change, this answer is correct currently *at this time*. – Jeremy Thompson Jun 16 '20 at 08:02

score 5 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 29 '20 at 03:35

5

Make sure the directory from which you are running your script does not contain a filename called bs4.py.

answered Jan 29 '20 at 03:35

psrpsrpsr

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Thank you. I was pulling my hair. – Supertech Mar 29 '20 at 15:51

score 3 · Answer 4 · edited Jul 09 '17 at 12:22

3

I solved it by installing beautifulsoup4, the "4" is essential.

pip install beautifulsoup4

edited Jul 09 '17 at 12:22

OneCricketeer

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answered Apr 28 '15 at 00:15

mathlogic

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score 3 · Answer 5 · answered Oct 17 '18 at 04:16

I experienced a variation of this problem and am posting for others' benefit.

I named my Python example script bs4.py

Inside this script, whenever trying to import bs4 using the command:

from bs4 import BeautifulSoup, an ImportError was thrown, but confusingly (for me) the import worked perfectly from an interactive shell within the same venv environment.

After renaming the Python script, imports work as expected. The error was caused as Python tries to import itself from the local directory rather than using the system copy of bs4

file name... thats exactly right. That solved my problem too. Thanks. — ScipioAfricanus, Feb 21 '19 at 20:53

score 3 · Answer 6 · answered Nov 13 '18 at 15:28

3

Copy bs4 and beautifulsoup4-4.6.0.dist-info from C:\python\Lib\site-packages to your local project directory. It worked for me. Here, python actually looks for the library in local directory rather than the place where the library was installed!

answered Nov 13 '18 at 15:28

Sadman Amin

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Not sure about this one. Tried it didn't work for me and also not making sense to me. Cause from my understanding the python program runs from your python environment if the environment already has the python library why would putting in the project directory change anything? – devnation Mar 09 '23 at 00:55

Abhishek Tripathi · Answer 7 · 2020-06-10T11:36:22.823

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The bs4 and beautifulsoup4 folders might be in the site-packages folder. So copy BeautifulSoup4 folder in bs4 and then try the below code. It worked for me.

from bs4 import BeautifulSoup

Since you were importing BeautifulSoup from bs4 and in bs4 there was no BeautifulSoup folder. That is why it was showing ImportError: cannot import name BeautifulSoup.

edited Jun 10 '20 at 11:36

answered Mar 07 '20 at 08:00

Abhishek Tripathi

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score 1 · Answer 8 · answered Feb 02 '19 at 03:40

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One of the possible reason: If you have more than one python versions installed and let's say you installed beautifulsoup4 using pip3, it will only be available for import when you run it in python3 shell.

answered Feb 02 '19 at 03:40

thevisionarist

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score 0 · Answer 9 · edited Jul 18 '18 at 11:24

I was also facing this type error in the beginning even after install all the modules which were required including pip install bs4 (if you have installed this then no need to install beautifusoup4 | BeautifulSoup4 through pip or anywhere else it comes with bs4 itself)

Solution : Just go to your python file where it is installed C:\python\Lib\site-packages and then copy bs4 and beautifulsoup4-4.6.0.dist-info folders and paste it to your project folder where you have saved your working project.

score 0 · Answer 10 · answered Sep 02 '19 at 09:35

0

The best way to resolve is, while creating your interpreter select your global python path on your system(/usr/local/bin/python3.7). Make sure that in pycharm shell, python --version appears as 3.7. It shouldn't show 2.7

answered Sep 02 '19 at 09:35

avinash kumar azad

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score 0 · Answer 11 · edited May 24 '20 at 07:17

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There is no problem with package just need to Copy bs4 and beautifulsoup4-4.6.0.dist-info into your project directory

edited May 24 '20 at 07:17

AzyCrw4282

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answered May 24 '20 at 06:56

Santosh Birje

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score 0 · Answer 12 · edited Aug 10 '21 at 10:59

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When I used

pip3 install beautifulsoup4

instead of

pip install beautifulsoup4

it returned that all requirements already satisfied but I ran it again and it worked, I'm using a virtualenv which uses python 3.8.10, I don't really know the logic behind it but hey it worked.

edited Aug 10 '21 at 10:59

Reza Rahemtola

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answered Aug 09 '21 at 08:35

Abdelrhmanshokr

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score 0 · Answer 13 · answered Nov 04 '21 at 07:47

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I had the same problem. The error was that the file in which I was importing beautifulsoup from bs4 was in another folder. Just replaced the file out of the internal folder and it worked.

answered Nov 04 '21 at 07:47

festina-lente

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score 0 · Answer 14 · answered Jan 09 '22 at 17:43

For anyone else that might have the same issue as me. I tried all the above, but still didn't work. issue was 1 was using a virtual environment so needed to do pip install in the pycharm terminal instead of a command prompt to install it there. Secondly I had typed import Beautifulsoup with the S not capitalized. changed to BeautifulSoup and it worked.

score 0 · Answer 15 · answered May 07 '22 at 14:40

0

For me it was a permissions issue. Directory "/usr/local/lib/python#.#/site-packages/bs4" was only 'rwx' by root and no other groups/users. Please check permissions on that directory.

answered May 07 '22 at 14:40

Ken Roy

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Cannot import Beautiful Soup

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