My pip is broken. _internal module cannot be imported.

Maintainer note: Anyone that still gets this issue please see #5599.

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• Pip version: 8.1.1
• Python version: 2.7.12
• Operating system: Ubuntu 16.04 (64 bit)

Description:

my pip is broken. it cannot update. It also complains error when just type pip.

What I’ve run:

pip

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/local/bin/pip", line7, in <module>
      from pip._internal import main
ImportError: No module named _internal

Also tried sudo pip or sudo su; pip, with same output.

[Shuailong]

I just change the from pip._internal import main into from pip import main and Voila! Problem dismissed

[zchrissirhcz]

By typing:

sudo apt remove python-pip

the problem disappears. Strange.