Receiving 'ImportError: cannot import name etree' when using lxml in Python on Mac

Question

I'm having difficulty properly installing lxml for Python on Mac. I have followed the instructions here , which after installation indicates that the installation is successful (however, there are some warnings. The full log of the install and warnings can be found here )

After running the install, I am trying to run Test.py in the lxml install directory to ensure that it's working correctly. I am immediately prompted with the error:

ImportError"  cannot import name etree.  

This error results from the line from lxml import etree .

I can't seem to figure out why it's failing here after a seemingly successful install. Please forgive my ignorance, as I don't typically program in Python and certainly never on a MAC (forced to do so at the moment).

For reference:

• Python Version: 2.7.2
• Mac OS X 10.8.2

Thanks in advance for all the help.

Answer 1

Sounds like you have another lxml in your path. Make sure you are referencing the right one, it should look something like this:

>>> import lxml
>>> lxml
<module 'lxml' from '/path/to/lib/python2.7/site-packages/lxml/__init__.pyc'>

Answer 2

I had the same problem as you.

My problem was that I named one of my Python files lxml.py .

You should always check if your Python file's name conflicts with a module.

Answer 3

Microsoft Server Spyder IDE Python 3.7 and Python 3.9

Documenting this as I couldn't find the solution ANYWHERE on Google/StackOverflow etc.

Regarding SharePlum, SharePoint Integration, issues with

import from lxml import etree ImportError: cannot import name etree

I had the same issue while trying to use SharePlum with Spyder IDE.

I tried installing, uninstalling, and installing versions of the below with no success pip install shareplum pip install lxml

I had Python 3.9 installed and Spyder IDE (which I didn't know, also installs it's own version of Python 3.7 - as at 13 May 2021 Spyder version).. [even though the Spyder IDE is set up to search all python package inventories (eg ../Python39/Lib/Site-Packages) for packages] there seems to be a Spyder issue with Python pulling packages from other paths.

Solution, I have uninstalled all Python and Spyder IDE installations.

I then ONLY installed Spyder IDE (which nests a python install within it's PATH. I then went into the PATH ".../Spyder/Python" where you can find all the familiar Python.exe and other familiar Python files. I had to use this install of Python to install Pip, and then I could "pip install -r requirements.txt" - which installs etree lxml and other goodies such as SharePlum etc.

This seemed to do the trick!

Answer 4

I had the same problem using PyCharm IDE v2021.2 with Python 3.8

What worked for me was in PyCharm,

1. go to Preferences -> Python Interpreter,
2. uninstall the lxml package,
3. close & restart PyCharm,
4. install the lxml package

Dunno why it worked, but it did.