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When using sudo to run pip "pip: command not found" but it's installed

Victoria Simmons |

sudo easy_install pip

Searching for pip
Best match: pip 1.4.1
Processing pip-1.4.1-py2.7.egg
pip 1.4.1 is already the active version in easy-install.pth
Installing pip script to /home/nyzlfc/.local/bin
Installing pip-2.7 script to /home/nyzlfc/.local/bin
Using /home/nyzlfc/.local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/pip-1.4.1-py2.7.egg
Processing dependencies for pip
Finished processing dependencies for pip

And then when I run

sudo pip install -U pyyaml nltk

I get:

sudo: pip: command not found

9 Answers

If you install pip from the Ubuntu repositories pip will work with sudo (I have used pip this way on 12.04 through to 14.04).

sudo apt-get install python-pip
4

Your pip is installed in /home/nyzlfc/.local/bin, which is not in the sudo path and with a good reason. Just add ~/.local/bin to your path and step away of sudo as it's unnecessary.

I had the same problem, and the reason I had this problem (on Debian) is that I installed python3.2 and python3-pip and as such, I really didn't have a pip executable, I also didn't have a pip3 executable. I have pip-3.2 executable.

As such I would also recommend doing:

sudo pip

and then pressing the tab to see the autocomplete options.

2

First check your $PATH variable using the echo command:

$ echo $PATH

If /usr/local/bin is missing, edit the hidden file .profile, located in your home directory. If this file is missing, edit .bash_profile instead.

Add as very last PATH statement the following line:

PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/bin

I always forgetting it myself!

  • I installed pip into ~/.local/bin
  • when doing a pip install package, I get a PermissionDenied somewhere in /usr/local/share/, with the friendly solution Consider using the '--user' option or check the permissions.

Hence, do: pip install --user package (unless you need this package globally/for other users as well)

I had the same problem (also trying to install yaml) and

sudo pip3 install yaml

worked for me!

Instead of doing pip install <package name>

Try pip3 install <package name>

0

If you don't like to install new package (to make sure it doesn't mess with your current python environment), I suggest switching to root just for installation. I found it easier. But don't forget to switch back, right after you finished installation.

if you have installed in python3 then you can do is python3 -m pip install package_name

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