ImportError numpy.core.multiarray failed to import

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The ImportError numpy.core.multiarray failed to import error occurs usually when there is a conflict between the versions of the imported modules with NumPy. There can be other many reasons as well which we will discuss in this article. We will solve the ImportError: numpy.core.multiarray failed to import errors using various methods and we hope any of the given methods will help you to sort out the issue. Moreover, we will also discuss how we can interpret and understand errors in Python so that we can easily solve them.

Solve ImportError numpy.core.multiarray failed to import

This issue usually occurs when there is a conflict between the version of the NumPy module and the imported modules. One of the simplest methods is to resolve the version issues and try. Here we will go through a couple of methods to solve the issue. But before solving the problem, let us try to understand why we are getting this issue. Here are some of the possible reasons for getting this error:

  1. The NumPy module is not installed on your System.
  2. Another reason can be you are trying to import the numpy.core.multiarray from the version of NumPy that does not have this module.
  3. There can be the possibility of having typo error, make sure you are typing correctly and importing the required modules correctly.
  4. Another main reason might be that you are importing another package which is causing the import to fail.

Now let us use various methods to solve the ImportError: numpy.core.multiarray failed to import error: The error can be solved by the following methods:

  1. Installing NumPy module
  2. Updating NumPy module
  3. Alternative methods

Let us now go through each of these methods.

 Installing NumPy

If the NumPy module is not yet installed on your system, then you can use the following commands to install the NumPy module on your system and then try to import the other required modules.

# for pip installation
pip install numpy

# for pip3 installation
pip3 install numpy

# for conda installation
conda install numpy

# for jupyter notebook
!pip install numpy

# for linux users
sudo apt-get install python3-numpy

Once the installation is complete, you can try to run your code again and if the error was because of not having the NumPy module on your system, then this will resolve the issue.

Updating the NumPy

If you already had installed the NumPy module on your system, and still getting this error then you need to update the NumPy. Here are some of the possible ways to update the NumPy module.

# update numpy
pip install -U numpy

#upgrade the numpy module
pip install --upgrade numpy

# installing specific version
pip install numpy==1.14.5

If you are a mac user, then the following command should work for you:

#using python3
python3 -m pip install numpy -I

# you can use this as well
sudo pip install numpy --upgrade --ignore-installed

Hopefully, any of the given methods will solve the ImportError: numpy.core.multiarray failed to import error.

Alternative ways

If the above-mentioned methods couldn’t help you then you can use any of the following alternative methods to solve the issue.

You can try to install the NumPy module forcefully if it does not install or update.

pip install --force-reinstall numpy==1.19.3

If you are using the Anaconda environment, then here is another method to solve the ImportError: numpy.core.multiarray failed to import error.

conda install -c conda-forge numpy

Another method to solve the issue is to explicitly specify the path for the installation as shown below:

# explicitly specify path
pip install --target c:\apps\python-3.7\Lib\site-packages numpy

Maybe you can also use the following pip command as well:

pip install numpy -I

Hopefully, now you will not get the error.

Understanding the ImportError numpy.core.multiarray failed to import error

Now, let us try to understand the ImportError: numpy.core.multiarray failed to import error so that we can easily solve it. The errors in Python usually have two main parts. The first part of the error shows the category of the error. In our case, the error belongs to ImportError which means there is an error while importing a module. The second part of the error gives more specific information. In our case, the second part helps us to figure out which module has not been imported successfully. It clearly says that numpy.core.multiarray failed to import which means there was a problem in importing the NumPy module.

What is an ImportError in Python?

The ImportError is a simple error in Python caused by the failure of importing any module. A Module is an external Python file that contains different classes and functions that we can use without coding all the functionalities.

Let us assume that we have a Python file that prints hello world.

def main():
    print("Hello world")

Now, we can open another Python file and import the module there. If we will make a spelling mistake, then we will get an ImportError. So, when you are importing any module, make sure that you have the correct spelling.

Examples of numpy.core.multiarray in Python?

Now let us take some examples in Python for numpy.core.multiarray. Here is the first example:

def array(sequence, typecode=None, copy=1, savespace=0, dtype=None):
    dtype = convtypecode2(typecode, dtype)
    return mu.array(sequence, dtype, copy=copy)

def sarray(a, typecode=None, copy=False, dtype=None):
    pass

Here is another example of numpy.core.multiarray:

def sarray(a, typecode=None, copy=False, dtype=None):
    dtype = convtypecode2(typecode, dtype)
    return mu.array(a, dtype, copy)

Hopefully, these examples were useful.

Summary

This short article taught us how to solve ImportError: numpy.core.multiarray failed to import error. This error usually occurs when we try to import some modules which might cause conflict in the versions. We learned various methods to solve this issue. Moreover, we also discussed some of the possible reasons for getting this error.

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