'geckodriver' executable needs to be in PATH

Question

Mac OS user here. I'm trying to run a command in my python IDLE:

from selenium import webdriver
browser = webdriver.Firefox()

and I get the following error message:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.6/lib/python3.6/site-packages/selenium/webdriver/common/service.py", line 76, in start
    stdin=PIPE)
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.6/lib/python3.6/subprocess.py", line 709, in __init__
    restore_signals, start_new_session)
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.6/lib/python3.6/subprocess.py", line 1344, in _execute_child
    raise child_exception_type(errno_num, err_msg, err_filename)
FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'geckodriver': 'geckodriver'

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<pyshell#4>", line 1, in <module>
    browser = webdriver.Firefox()
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.6/lib/python3.6/site-packages/selenium/webdriver/firefox/webdriver.py", line 160, in __init__
    self.service.start()
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.6/lib/python3.6/site-packages/selenium/webdriver/common/service.py", line 83, in start
    os.path.basename(self.path), self.start_error_message)
selenium.common.exceptions.WebDriverException: Message: 'geckodriver' executable needs to be in PATH.

I've ran brew install geckodriver, and which geckodriver returns /usr/local/bin/geckodriver so I'm sure it's installed correctly. It seems like it's still not running properly however?

Answer 1

Your error message is quite clear:

FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'geckodriver': 'geckodriver'

You have to set the path to the geckodriver. There are different ways to do that.

You could set the path to the geckodriver in the code:

from selenium import webdriver
browser = webdriver.Firefox(executable_path=r'/.../path2Your/geckodriver')

or insert the path to the geckodriver in the PATH environment variable:

export PATH=$PATH:/.../path2Your/geckodriver

I never tried to move the executable in the /usr/local/bin/ in a mac os. I tried in an ubuntu os and it works. I think should be fine.

Probably it's because the file is not executable. If it isn't, go to /usr/local/bin/ and make it executable:

chmod +x geckodriver