python 3.x - Importing pandas shows ImportError: cannot import name hashtable

Question

I have installed pandas on python 3.3, and coded like this:

import csv
import pandas
from pandas import DataFrame

csvdata = pandas.read_csv('datafile.csv')
df = DataFrame(csvdata)

It comes with the following error message:

cannot import name hashtable
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:Usersdocumentest4.py", line 5, in <module>
    import pandas
  File "C:Python33libsite-packagespandas\__init__.py", line 6, in <module>
    from . import hashtable, tslib, lib
ImportError: cannot import name hashtable

Could anyone help me figure out how to solve this error? Python and pandas were successfully installed.

Answer 1

Update: I now recommend installing the scientific python stack using Anaconda.

Pandas comes bundled and can easily be updated using conda:

conda update pandas

It also comes bundled with cython, scipy (which is tricky to install via pip), statsmodels, and manages the dependencies/reationships between these packages for you.

It's worth emphaising that you don't need admin/sudo access to install it on the machine to install Anaconda.

---

If you're not using Anaconda, the recommended way to install pandas is via pip (on Mac and Windows):

pip install pandas

On Linux you can also install with python-pandas in whichever repository, but be aware you may be installing an older version of pandas, ideally you should be using the latest stable version.

---

It looks like you have tried to install from source, about which the docs mention:

Installing from the git repository requires a recent installation of Cython as the cythonized C sources are no longer checked into source control. Released source distributions will contain the built C files. I recommend installing the latest Cython via easy_install -U Cython

Note that you will not be able to import pandas if you open an interpreter in the source directory unless you build the C extensions in place:

python setup.py build_ext --inplace

Without compiling hashtables.pyx (and a few other cython files), pandas is unable to import them. These are required for pandas (which explains your error message).

Note: this error message has been made more descriptive for 0.11.1 onwards, it will say that the C-extensions were not built.