How do I use installed packages in PyCharm?

Adding a Path

Go into File → Settings → Project Settings → Project Interpreter.

Then press configure interpreter, and navigate to the "Paths" tab.

https://i.imgur.com/Q5pcWDX.jpg

Press the + button in the Paths area. You can put the path to the module you'd like it to recognize.

But I don't know the path..

Open the python interpreter where you can import the module.

>> import gnuradio
>> gnuradio.__file__
"path/to/gnuradio"

Most commonly you'll have a folder structure like this:

foobarbaz/
  gnuradio/
    __init__.py
    other_file.py

You want to add foobarbaz to the path here.

---

You should never need to modify the path directly, either through environment variables or sys.path. Whether you use the os (ex. apt-get), or pip in a virtualenv, packages will be installed to a location already on the path.

In your example, GNU Radio is installed to the system Python 2's standard site-packages location, which is already in the path. Pointing PyCharm at the correct interpreter is enough; if it isn't there is something else wrong that isn't apparent. It may be that /usr/bin/python does not point to the same interpreter that GNU Radio was installed in; try pointing specifically at the python2.7 binary. Or, PyCharm used to be somewhat bad at detecting packages; File > Invalidate Caches > Invalidate and Restart would tell it to rescan.

This answer will cover how you should set up a project environment, install packages in different scenarios, and configure PyCharm. I refer multiple times to the Python Packaging User Guide, written by the same group that maintains the official Python packaging tools.

The correct way to develop a Python application is with a virtualenv. Packages and version are installed without affecting the system or other projects. PyCharm has a built-in interface to create a virtualenv and install packages. Or you can create it from the command line and then point PyCharm at it.

$ cd MyProject
$ python2 -m virtualenv env
$ . env/bin/activate
$ pip install -U pip setuptools  # get the latest versions
$ pip install flask  # install other packages

In your PyCharm project, go to File > Settings > Project > Project Interpreter. If you used virtualenvwrapper or PyCharm to create the env, then it should show up in the menu. If not, click the gear, choose Add Local, and locate the Python binary in the env. PyCharm will display all the packages in the selected env.

https://i.stack.imgur.com/gE7k8.png

https://i.stack.imgur.com/dLVhx.png

In some cases, such as with GNU Radio, there is no package to install with pip, the package was installed system-wide when you install the rest of GNU Radio (ex. apt-get install gnuradio). In this case, you should still use a virtualenv, but you'll need to make it aware of this system package.

$ python2 -m virtualenv --system-site-packages env

Unfortunately it looks a little messy, because all system packages will now appear in your env, but they are just links, you can still safely install or upgrade packages without affecting the system.

In some cases, you will have multiple local packages you're developing, and will want one project to use the other package. In this case you might think you have to add the local package to the other project's path, but this is not the case. You should install your package in development mode. All this requires is adding a setup.py file to your package, which will be required anyway to properly distribute and deploy the package later.

Minimal setup.py for your first project:

from setuptools import setup, find_packages

setup(
    name='mypackage',
    version='0.1',
    packages=find_packages(),
)

Then install it in your second project's env:

$ pip install -e /path/to/first/project

---

For me, it was just a matter of marking the directory as a source root.

---

Add path in PyCharm 2017

File -> Settings (or Ctrl+Alt+S) -> Project -> Project Interpreter

https://i.stack.imgur.com/zJtDv.png

https://i.stack.imgur.com/h7Kxg.png

https://i.stack.imgur.com/oRnsx.png

---

My version is PyCharm Professional edition 3.4, and the Adding a Path part is different.

You can go to "Preferences" --> "Project Interpreter". Choose the tool button at the right top corner.

Then choose "More..." --> "Show path for the selected interpreter" --> "Add". Then you can add a path.

---

DON'T change the interpreter path.

Change the project structure instead:

File -> Settings -> Project -> Project structure -> Add content root

---

In PyCharm 2020.1 CE and Professional, you can add a path to your project's Python interpreter by doing the following:

1) Click the interpreter in the bottom right corner of the project and select 'Interpreter Settings'

https://i.stack.imgur.com/148bW.jpg

2) Click the settings button to the right of the interpreter name and select 'Show All':

https://i.stack.imgur.com/sQWnz.jpg

3) Make sure your project's interpreter is selected and click the fifth button in the bottom toolbar, 'show paths for the selected interpreter':

https://i.stack.imgur.com/PiEm3.jpg

4) Click the '+' button in the bottom toolbar and add a path to the folder containing your module:

https://i.stack.imgur.com/TtqZh.jpg

---

For PyCharm Community Edition 2016.3.2 it is:

"Project Interpreter" -> Top right settings icon -> "More".

Then on the right side there should be a packages icon. When hovering over it it should say "Show paths for selected interpreter". Click it.

Then click the "Add" button or press "alt+insert" to add a new path.

---

As quick n dirty fix, this worked for me: Adding this 2 lines before the problematic import:

import sys
sys.path.append('C:\\Python27\\Lib\site-packages')

---

On Project Explorer, you can right click on the folder where the module is contained and set as 'Source'.

It will be parsed in the Index for code completion as well as other items.

---

I'm new to PyCharm (using 2018.3.4 CE) and Python so I rotely tried to follow each of the above suggestions to access the PIL (Pillow) package which I knew was in system-site-packages. None worked. I was about to give up for the night when I happened to notice the venv/pyvenv.cfg file under my project in the Project Explorer window. I found the line "include-system-site-packages = false" in that file and so I changed it to "true". Problem solved.

---

In my PyCharm 2019.3, select the project, then File ---> Settings, then Project: YourProjectName, in 'Project Interpreter', click the interpreter or settings, ---> Show all... ---> Select the current interpreter ---> Show paths for the selected interpreter ---> then click 'Add' to add your library, in my case, it is a wheel package

---

For me there is also another issue. If you try to add a folder that in the past had a .idea folder, but your current project has it's own .idea folder your pycharm might get confused for some reason -- even if you have the right python/conda env. For me deleting the .idea folder of the other project fixed the confusion that it could find the obviously correctly installed pkgs. Then it was it was able to find them in the pycharm editor GUI snf stopped underlyinging them in red.

---

Download anaconda https://anaconda.org/

once done installing anaconda...

Go into Settings -> Project Settings -> Project Interpreter.

Then navigate to the "Paths" tab and search for /anaconda/bin/python

click apply

https://i.stack.imgur.com/19upA.png

---