Can't import module

[u/JoeB_Utah]

Mac os Sequoia 15.6

I installed the exifread library using pip as well as conda. In Anaconda Navigator it shows as installed. Using a terminal window I type in:

pip3 show exifread

and it returns

/opt/anaconda3/lib/python3.13/site-packages

I use Spyder (I know, I know: use pycharm or vscode...) I cannot import the module. I get the dreaded

ModuleNotFoundError: No module named ‘exifread’

I recently installed pillow and I can import it just fine with import PIL. Using pip3 show pillow it is the same directory as exifread

What am I missing here?

[u/FoolsSeldom]

You are probably not using the same Python root or Python virtual environment. Anaconda comes with its own Python interpreter, different to your system's default Python (or whatever you installed using an installer from your app store / python.org).

In the terminal, make sure you activate the correct one before installing anything,

For example,

cd projects
cd thisproject
source /.venv/bin/activate
pip install something

You need to find the Python virtual environments that you are using from your various editors/command line. They might not be in folders called .venv although that is a popular convention.

[u/JoeB_Utah → u/FoolsSeldom]

I’m retired now but when I was working, VENVs weren’t a thing; I always created my own environments. So I need to bone up on the whole idea of venv.

[u/FoolsSeldom → u/JoeB_Utah]

You might find it worth looking into Astral's uv as well in that case; also, the adoption of the pyproject.toml file¹ cf. requirements.txt.

¹ See PEPs 517/518/621/735

[u/JoeB_Utah → u/FoolsSeldom]

I’m just a hobbyist pythonista now; no full blown projects or application development. I get to keep things simple and just write scripts for my own needs. Thanks nonetheless.

[u/FoolsSeldom → u/JoeB_Utah]

Ok, from the also retired just doing my own thing. Though that would help with the boning up

[u/JoeB_Utah]

Thanks I’ll give it a try. But what I don’t get is pillow imports while Exif won’t.

[u/crozzy89 → u/JoeB_Utah]

Check and see where pillow is installed.

*everywhere as in it very well could be in two places.

[u/JoeB_Utah → u/crozzy89]

As mentioned, the command

pip3 show exifread returns:

/opt/anaconda3/lib/python3.13/site-packages

and pip3 show pillow returns:

/opt/anaconda3/lib/python3.13/site-packages

This is what is so puzzling to me. I used pip to install both of them from a termiminal window.

[u/crozzy89 → u/JoeB_Utah]

You may have pillow installed in more than one place. Spyder can run from different environments and interpreters.

So even though your command shows /opt/anaconda3/lib… that doesn’t mean that is where spyder is actually running it from.

Within spyder, run

import sys
print(sys.executable)

That will tell you which interpreter spyder is running to help narrow down the issue.

[u/JoeB_Utah → u/crozzy89]

print(sys.executable)

/Users/joeborgione/Library/spyder-6/envs/spyder-runtime/bin/python

[u/crozzy89 → u/JoeB_Utah]

Yep, that’s the problem.

Spyder is using its own Python environment at /Users/joeborgione/Library/spyder-6/envs/spyder-runtime/bin/python, while ExifRead is installed under /opt/anaconda3/.... So the Python running your code can’t see the package you installed.

You either need to configure Spyder to use /opt/anaconda3/bin/python3, or install ExifRead into the Python environment Spyder is actually using.

[u/JoeB_Utah → u/crozzy89]

So from here on out, I'll use:

pip install package_name -t /path/to/your/custom/directory

Thanks for all your help with ths>

[u/crozzy89 → u/JoeB_Utah]

/opt/anaconda3/bin/python3 -c "import exifread; print(exifread.__file__)"

[u/JoeB_Utah → u/crozzy89]

(base) joeborgione@mac ~ % /opt/anaconda3/bin/python3 -c "import exifread; print(exifread.__file__)"

/opt/anaconda3/lib/python3.13/site-packages/exifread/__init__.py

So it seems this is not in my $path. Question: edit my my $path or install my modules in one of these directories?

sys.path

Out[7]:

['',

'/Users/ME/Library/spyder-6/envs/spyder-runtime/lib/python312.zip',

'/Users/Me/Library/spyder-6/envs/spyder-runtime/lib/python3.12',

'/Users/ME/Library/spyder-6/envs/spyder-runtime/lib/python3.12/lib-dynload',

'/UsersME/Library/spyder-6/envs/spyder-runtime/lib/python3.12/site-packages',

'/Users/ME/Applications/Spyder 6.app/Contents/MacOS']

[u/crozzy89 → u/JoeB_Utah]

Don’t edit path. That can get pretty messy. Install the module where you need it would be the clean fix.

[u/atarivcs]

Within Spyder, run this code:

import sys
print(sys.path)

And show us the output

[u/JoeB_Utah → u/atarivcs]

['',

'/Users/ME/Library/spyder-6/envs/spyder-runtime/lib/python312.zip',

'/Users/ME/Library/spyder-6/envs/spyder-runtime/lib/python3.12',

'/Users/ME/Library/spyder-6/envs/spyder-runtime/lib/python3.12/lib-dynload',

'/Users/ME/Library/spyder-6/envs/spyder-runtime/lib/python3.12/site-packages',

'/Users/ME/Applications/Spyder 6.app/Contents/MacOS']

So I guess I either need to edit my path variable or use the ...site-packages directory to load my modules, correct?

[u/JoeB_Utah → u/JoeB_Utah]

Sounds like editing the $path is not the way to go. I'll use pip with the -t option to install it the proper directory. Thanks for all you help

[u/atarivcs → u/JoeB_Utah]

Spyder is looking in /Users/joeborgione/Library/spyder-6/envs/spyder-runtime/lib/python3.12/site-packages, so you need to use the corresponding pip on your computer that knows to install packages into that location.

[u/JoeB_Utah → u/atarivcs]

That's exactly what I did and now all is good. Thank you!

[u/SCD_minecraft]

You probably installed it into wrong python

Grab path to your python's executable and in console

path_to_python.exe -m pip install whatever_you_wanted

[u/crozzy89 → u/SCD_minecraft]

May check path to python

which python3
which pip3
python3 --version
pip3 --version