noob can't install python modules/scripts

[Steven D'Aprano]

On Fri, 28 Dec 2012 17:45:56 -0800, lostguru wrote:

> using easy_install as an example, I downloaded the .py script the
> website told me to use for 64-bit installations, and ran it; 

"The website"? There's more than one website on the Internet. Which 
website are you referring to? What .py script did you download? How did 
you run it? Details are important!


> as far as I
> know nothing happened (was I supposed to put it in a specific folder
> first before running it?) and trying to type "easy_install" into python
> gives me this:
> Traceback (most recent call last):
>   File "<pyshell#0>", line 1, in <module>
>     easy_install
> NameError: name 'easy_install' is not defined
> 
> trying to type "easy_install BeautifulSoup4" gives me this:
> SyntaxError: invalid syntax

It looks like you tried to run the easy_install command from inside the 
Python interactive interpreter, rather than from your system shell.

The system shell (command.com or cmd.exe I guess) will have a $ or % sign 
as the prompt. Python usually has >>> as the prompt, although if you are 
running ActivePython it may be something else. You need to run the 
"easy_install BeautifulSoup4" command from the system shell, not Python.


Try that, and if there's another error, please copy and paste the exact 
command you used, and the full error message.



-- 
Steven