Error in downloading NLTK data: [Errno 11004] getaddrinfo failed

Question

I have installed NLTK module but when I try to install the data I am getting the error below.

>>>import nltk
>>> nltk.download('punkt')
[nltk_data] Error loading punkt: <urlopen error [Errno 11004]
[nltk_data]     getaddrinfo failed>
False

How should I install the data?

Answer 1

The issue might be of the Proxy that is setup in the system.

instead of:

import nltk

nltk.download()

use:

nltk.set_proxy('SYSTEM PROXY')

nltk.download()

This should solve the problem. And to find the proxy of the system: seach proxy in start option of windows.

Answer 2

I understand this is a very old question but wanted to share my experience for anyone who may experience this situation in future. What i did was (in windows 10) -

1. open command prompt.
2. set proxies using command -

set HTTP_PROXY= http://userid:password@proxyurl:port

set HTTPS_PROXY= http://userid:password@proxyurl:port

set FTP_PROXY= http://userid:password@proxyurl:port

3. run command -

python -m nltk.downloader