title: Python matplotlib importError in command prompt but not in python shell
body: <p>Disclaimer: I'm new to python and first post, so I apologize if this isn't formatted correctly or somewhere on the site. I haven't found anything thus far though.</p>
  
  <p>I'm using Python 2.7 (32 bit) on Win7 (64 bit) and trying to use matplotlib to generate simple plots. I have numpy, scipy, and installed matplotlib. matplotlib is installed as 32bit.</p>
  
  <p>I have a script ('different.py') that has only one line:</p>
  
  <pre><code>import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>running this script in the command prompt returns the following error:</p>
  
  <pre><code>C:\Users\Robert\Desktop&gt;python different.py
  Traceback (most recent call last):
    File "different.py", line 1, in &lt;module&gt;
      import matplotlib as plt
    File "C:\Python27\lib\site-packages\matplotlib\__init__.py", line 165, in &lt;module&gt;
      from matplotlib.rcsetup import (defaultParams,
    File "C:\Python27\lib\site-packages\matplotlib\rcsetup.py", line 20, in &lt;module&gt;
      from matplotlib.colors import is_color_like
    File "C:\Python27\lib\site-packages\matplotlib\colors.py", line 54, in &lt;module&gt;
      import matplotlib.cbook as cbook
    File "C:\Python27\lib\site-packages\matplotlib\cbook.py", line 34, in &lt;module&gt;
  
      import new
    File "C:\Users\Robert\Desktop\new.py", line 1, in &lt;module&gt;
      import matplotlib.pyplot
    File "C:\Python27\lib\site-packages\matplotlib\pyplot.py", line 23, in &lt;module&gt;
      from matplotlib import _pylab_helpers, interactive
  ImportError: cannot import name interactive
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>However, when i open the python (command line) program, and enter </p>
  
  <pre><code>import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
  plt
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>it runs and returns 
     &lt; module 'matplotlib.pyplot' from 'C:\Python27\lib\sitepackages\matplotlib\pyplot.pyc'></p>
  
  <p>so as far as I can tell it imports the library from the shell, but it's having an issue in the command prompt, and I have no idea why. The only post I've seen related said it was having trouble importing the name interactive because the user had titled their script as "new". I had that originally, but saved the script as 'different.py' thinking it would fix the issue, which it didn't.</p>
  
  <p>Any idea as to why the ImportError is occuring in the command prompt but not the shell?</p>