title: How do I access packages installed by `pip --user`?
body: <p>I realized I had an outdated numpy version:</p>
  
  <pre class="lang-none prettyprint-override"><code>$ python
  Python 2.7.10 (default, Oct 23 2015, 18:05:06)
  [GCC 4.2.1 Compatible Apple LLVM 7.0.0 (clang-700.0.59.5)] on darwin
  Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
  &gt;&gt;&gt; import numpy as np
  &gt;&gt;&gt; np.version.full_version
  '1.8.0rc1'
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I sought to update it, but I couldn't install on the entire machine for some reason:</p>
  
  <pre class="lang-none prettyprint-override"><code>$ sudo pip install -U numpy
  Password:
  Downloading/unpacking numpy from https://pypi.python.org/packages/dd/9f/cd0ec9c50e4ed8650901ad4afde164e5252b6182a9e0c7bff5f8b4441960/numpy-1.11.1.zip#md5=5caa3428b24aaa07e72c79d115140e46
    Downloading numpy-1.11.1.zip (4.7MB): 4.7MB downloaded
    ...
    Found existing installation: numpy 1.8.0rc1
      Uninstalling numpy:
  Cleaning up...
  Exception:
  Traceback (most recent call last):
    File "/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/pip-1.4.1-py2.7.egg/pip/basecommand.py", line 134, in main
      status = self.run(options, args)
    File "/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/pip-1.4.1-py2.7.egg/pip/commands/install.py", line 241, in run
      requirement_set.install(install_options, global_options, root=options.root_path)
    File "/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/pip-1.4.1-py2.7.egg/pip/req.py", line 1294, in install
      requirement.uninstall(auto_confirm=True)
    File "/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/pip-1.4.1-py2.7.egg/pip/req.py", line 525, in uninstall
      paths_to_remove.remove(auto_confirm)
    File "/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/pip-1.4.1-py2.7.egg/pip/req.py", line 1639, in remove
      renames(path, new_path)
    File "/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/pip-1.4.1-py2.7.egg/pip/util.py", line 294, in renames
      shutil.move(old, new)
    File "/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/shutil.py", line 302, in move
      copy2(src, real_dst)
    File "/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/shutil.py", line 131, in copy2
      copystat(src, dst)
    File "/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/shutil.py", line 103, in copystat
      os.chflags(dst, st.st_flags)
  OSError: [Errno 1] Operation not permitted: '/tmp/pip-fajcj_-uninstall/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/Extras/lib/python/numpy-1.8.0rc1-py2.7.egg-info'
  
  Storing complete log in /Users/csaftoiu/Library/Logs/pip.log
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Ok, I'll just install to <code>--user</code> then:</p>
  
  <pre class="lang-none prettyprint-override"><code>$ pip install -U --user numpy
  ...
  Successfully installed numpy
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>But the version is not updated!</p>
  
  <pre class="lang-none prettyprint-override"><code>$ python
  Python 2.7.10 (default, Oct 23 2015, 18:05:06)
  [GCC 4.2.1 Compatible Apple LLVM 7.0.0 (clang-700.0.59.5)] on darwin
  Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
  &gt;&gt;&gt; import numpy as np
  &gt;&gt;&gt; np.version.full_version
  '1.8.0rc1'
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Where did the installed version go?</p>