- [Solved] ModuleNotFounderror: No Module named _ctypes in Python
- What is modulenotfounderror?
- Module ‘_ctypes’
- Solving ModuleNotFoundError: no module named ‘_ctypes’
- Modulenotfounderror: No Module Named _ctypes for Linux System
- Modulenotfounderror: No Module Named _ctypes for CentOS
- Modulenotfounderror: No Module Named _ctypes for MacOS
- FAQ’s
- ModuleNotFoundError: No Module Named ctypes ( Solve It )
- ModuleNotFoundError: No Module Named ctypes ( Solution ) –
- Step 1 :
- Step 2 :
- Why we use _ctypes module in Python –
- Join our list
- Modulenotfounderror: no module named _ctypes [Fixed]
- What is module ‘_Ctypes’?
- Why is Module ‘_ctypes’ used?
- What is Modulenotfounderror: no module named _ctypes?
- How to fix Modulenotfounderror: no module named ‘_ctypes’
- Additional Solutions to Fix no module named ‘_ctypes’
- Conclusion
- Leave a Comment Cancel reply
[Solved] ModuleNotFounderror: No Module named _ctypes in Python
Errors are raised when python cannot understand a given code because the code differs from the syntax and its rules. “modulenotfounderror: no module named _ctypes ” is one such error on which we will be discussing in this article.
As always, we will be breaking down the entire error into parts and learn what each term signifies.
What is modulenotfounderror?
Modules are lines of code containing functions that can be imported into another program. Modules are designed to make the code in python more manageable by improving readability and implementing reusability. The syntax for importing a module is: import module_name
Python raises a modulenotfounderror when it is unable to import a module. Python will try to find a module in either sys.modules or sys.path. When it cannot load the module, it will raise modulenotfounderror. It raises the error when python is unable to find either or one of the dependencies.
Module ‘_ctypes’
The ctypes module in python is used for providing C-compatible data types. Basically, ctypes is used to create and manipulate C data types in Python.
We use ctypes to call functions that are present in shared libraries. It is a way to implement C functions in python. With ctypes, we can use C data types such as arrays, double, structures, pointers, etc.
Ctypes is also used to wrap shared libraries in pure Python. To import all the functionalities from ctypes, we use: from ctypes import *
We use CDLL() function to represent a loaded DLL or a shared library.
Solving ModuleNotFoundError: no module named ‘_ctypes’
There are a couple of reasons why this error might be reflected on your computer. First, you need to ensure that while importing the ctypes module, you are typing the module name correctly because python is a case-sensitive language and will throw a modulenotfounderror in that case too.
The above import statement will throw an error because the ‘c’ in _ctypes should not be an uppercase character.
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named '_Ctypes'
Modulenotfounderror: No Module Named _ctypes for Linux System
If you use the Ubuntu Linux system, there are more chances that python will throw the modulenotfounderror while importing the _ctypes module. You may try to install and re-install python, but it might not work in most cases.
The main reason is that the _ctypes module in the ubuntu system requires the libffi-dev package to be installed. The _ctypes module depends on libffi-dev, so that has to be installed first. Because the system is missing the installation of libffi-dev, it cannot use to _ctypes module.
To install libffi-dev in your system, you can try either of the below code:
sudo apt install libffi-dev
sudo apt-get install libffi-dev
When installing python version 3.7.0 or above under Linux, you need to ensure that libffi-dev is installed. Because in ubuntu, an error message of the missing dependencies(which is _ctype in this case) will appear during python installation.
Modulenotfounderror: No Module Named _ctypes for CentOS
Modulenotfounderror is encountered while using CentOS in Linux. For example, while installing python in CentOS with version 3.7 or greater than 3.7, the above error occurs.
To use the _ctypes modules, we need to install a new package: libffi -devel. To install the libffi -devel package, we have to use the ‘yum’ command in centos. The ‘yum’ command is the default package manager. We use this command to install and update packages in CentOS.
The code for installing the package is:
yum install libffi-devel -y make install
After installing the libffi-devel package, again install and compile. This should resolve the error.
Modulenotfounderror: No Module Named _ctypes for MacOS
macOS faces the same problem while dealing with the _ctypes module. You will have to install libffi for using the _ctypes module. Note that for Python versions less than 2.6, libffi does not work on 64-bit macOS.
To install libffi, use the below code in your MacOS terminal. Here, we are installing libffi for version 3.2.1. You can change your version accordingly.
wget ftp://sourceware.org/pub/libffi/libffi-3.2.1.tar.gz tar xvfz libffi-3.2.1.tar.gz cd libffi-3.2.1 ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/libffi/3_2_1 make make install
FAQ’s
ImportError is actually a parent class of ModuleNotFoundError, where ModuleNotFoundError is its subclass. ModuleNotFoundError is raised when python was not successful in importing a particular module. When an error occurs in importing a module while using: ‘import module_name,’ a ModuleNotFoundError is raised. But, when there is an error while using
‘from … import module_name’ command, python raises an ImportError.
How to solve Modulenotfounderror: No Module Named ‘_ctypes’ for matplotlib/numpy in Linux System
While performing ‘sudo make install’ during python installation, you may get modulenotfounderror for _ctypes modules. The error occurs because python is missing some dependencies. Try to install the dependencies given in the code below:
1. sudo apt-get update
2. sudo apt-get upgrade
3. sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
4. sudo apt-get install build-essential python-dev python-setuptools python-pip python-smbus
5. sudo apt-get install libncursesw5-dev libgdbm-dev libc6-dev
6. sudo apt-get install zlib1g-dev libsqlite3-dev tk-dev
7. sudo apt-get install libssl-dev openssl
8. sudo apt-get install libffi-dev
This sums up the article about Modulenotfounderror: No Module Named _ctypes in Python. If you have any questions, let us know in the comments below.
Until then, Happy Learning!
ModuleNotFoundError: No Module Named ctypes ( Solve It )
ModuleNotFoundError: No Module Named ctypes error occurs because of incompatibility between Python 3.7.0 and ctypes in the absence of libffi-dev package. Typically, If we do not install libffi-dev package explicitly then Installation for Python 3.7.0 comes with this Modulenotfounderror. As the root cause is pretty simple in the same way the solution is too. All we need to install or reinstall libffi-dev package. Let’s begin
ModuleNotFoundError: No Module Named ctypes ( Solution ) –
We will break the full solution into two steps. One will install the package and the second will uninstall the Python interpreter and reinstall the same.
Step 1 :
In Fedora or a similar Linux family OS, we can use the below command.
For Ubuntu or a Similar Operating system use the below command.
sudo apt-get install libffi-dev
Step 2 :
Here we will uninstall the incompatible python version and then reinstall with commands. Please refer below commands.
pyenv uninstall 3.7.6 pyenv install 3.7.6
Why we use _ctypes module in Python –
Usually, all know that C programming language is closer than any other high-level programming library. Which ultimately gives the best performance and lesser response time in code execution. In some of the applications where a certain task is needed at the optimized scale, we need only C programming implementation for that particular task, we use the concept of a shared library. Here we invoke C functions internally with a Python program. In this complete implementation process, _ctypes module helps in accessing C data types like a pointer, array, etc in Python.
This libffi-dev provides the lowest machine-dependent layer with an Interface supporting multiple high-level languages. This is being used in multiple cross-language frameworks and libraries like cython. The datatype in C programming language provides bit-level control in data and program flow. We can tune and optimize them to any extent for any business logic. On the opposite side, higher-level language does not give bit-level control over data.
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Modulenotfounderror: no module named _ctypes [Fixed]
Do you get the Modulenotfounderror: no module named ‘_ctypes‘ ?
Then you’ve come to the right place.
So, in this tutorial, we will provide a brief discussion of this error as well as step-by-step solutions to resolve it.
What is module ‘_Ctypes’?
Particularly, the ‘_ctypes’ module is a Python module that provides a foreign function interface (FFI) for calling functions in shared libraries or DLLs.
It allows Python code to interact with C code and provides a way to create C-compatible data types in Python.
Additionally, this ‘ _ctypes ‘ module is a standard library module in Python and is available in all versions of Python.
It is widely used in system programming, network programming, and other areas where C libraries are used.
Why is Module ‘_ctypes’ used?
Technically, the ‘ _ctypes ‘ module is used in Python to interact with C code and C libraries.
It provides a way to call functions in shared libraries or DLLs and create C-compatible data types in Python.
- Interfacing with C code: If you need to call a C function from Python or use a C library in Python, the ‘_ctypes’ module provides a way to do this.
- Accessing system functionality: Many system functions are only available in C libraries, and the ‘_ctypes’ module allows you to access these functions from Python.
- High-performance computing: C is often used for high-performance computing, and the ‘_ctypes’ module can be used to call C functions from Python to take advantage of their performance.
- Network programming: Many network protocols are implemented in C libraries, and the ‘_ctypes’ module can be used to call these libraries from Python.
What is Modulenotfounderror: no module named _ctypes?
Modulenotfounderror: no module named _ctypes error occurs due to incompatibility between Python 3.7.0 and ‘ctypes’ in the absence of the libffi-dev package .
So if we do not explicitly install the libffi-dev package , Python 3.7.0 installation will raise the Modulenotfound error.
As the root cause is pretty simple in the same way the solution too.
All we have to do is install or reinstall the libffi-dev package.
How to fix Modulenotfounderror: no module named ‘_ctypes’
- Fix the error by checking the module name.
The first step to fix this error is to check the spelling of the module name, wherein this module name is case-sensitive.
For instance, importing this module is typed like this:
import _Ctypes
This will throw the error:
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named ‘_Ctypes’
This is because the “C” should be lowercase since it is case-sensitive.
The main reason why Ubuntu Linux system raises the Modulenotfounderror: no module named ‘_ctypes’ error is that it requires to install libffi-dev package first.
Wherein the _cytpes is depending on libffi-dev package.
So when the libffi-dev is missing in the installation, _ctypes can not be used.
To fix this we need to install libffi-dev with use of the following command:
To use the _ctypes modules in CentOS in Linux, we need to install a new package: libffi -devel.
In Centos, we must use the “yum” command to install the libffi -devel package.
Moreover, the yum command is the standard package manager.
Thus, CentOS, we use this command to install and update packages.
The code for installing the package is:
Use this code in your macOS terminal to install libffi.
Here, we are installing libffi version 3.2.1. You can change your version accordingly.
wget ftp://sourceware.org/pub/libffi/libffi-3.2.1.tar.gz
tar xvfz libffi-3.2.1.tar.gz
cd libffi-3.2.1
./configure –prefix=/usr/local/libffi/3_2_1
make
make install
Additional Solutions to Fix no module named ‘_ctypes’
- sudo apt-get update
- sudo apt-get upgrade
- sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
- sudo apt-get install build-essential python-dev python-setuptools python-pip python-smbus
- sudo apt-get install libncursesw5-dev libgdbm-dev libc6-dev
- sudo apt-get install zlib1g-dev libsqlite3-dev tk-dev
- sudo apt-get install libssl-dev openssl
- sudo apt-get install libffi-dev
Conclusion
In conclusion Modulenotfounderror: no module named ctypes is an error raised when the libffi-dev package is missing in installation.
Remember to always keep your Python installation and modules up to date, and to check for missing dependencies if you encounter any issues.
That’s it we have provided solutions for fixing this error. However, if you follow the steps and encounter any further errors, feel free to ask for more help!
If you are finding solutions to some errors you’re encountering we also have Modulenotfounderror: no module named ‘debug_toolbar’.
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