- Python: Check Package Version
- Check Version of Python Package
- 8 Best Ways to Check the Package Version in Python
- Method 1: pip show
- Method 2: pip list
- Method 3: pip list + findstr on Windows
- Method 4: Library.__version__ Attribute
- Method 5: importlib.metadata.version
- Method 6: conda list
- Method 7: pip freeze
- Method 8: pip freeze + grep on Linux/Ubuntu/macOS
- Related Questions
- Check Package Version Python
- Check Package Version Linux
- Check Package Version Ubuntu
- Check Package Version Windows
- Check Package Version Mac
- Check Package Version Jupyter Notebook
- Check Package Version Terminal
- Check Package Version Conda/Anaconda
- Check Package Version with PIP
- Check Package Version in VSCode or PyCharm
- Summary
- Programmer Humor
Python: Check Package Version
While working with Python you may wonder what is the version of a certain Python package (library) that you are using.
There are several ways of how to get the version of a package or module in Python.
This note describes how to check the version of Python packages from a Python shell, from a command-line (terminal) or using a pip command.
Cool Tip: How to list all the locally installed Python modules and find the paths to their source files! Read More →
Check Version of Python Package
You can get the version of a Python package by running the command as follows directly from a Python shell:
$ python Python 3.8.10 (default, Jun 22 2022, 20:18:18) [GCC 9.4.0] on linux Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information. >>> import pkg_resources; print(pkg_resources.get_distribution('selenium').version) - sample output - 4.3.0
To check the Python package version you can also run the above command from a command-line (terminal) as follows:
$ python -c "import pkg_resources; \ print(pkg_resources.get_distribution('selenium').version)" - sample output - 4.3.0
To get the Python package version using a pip , execute:
$ pip show selenium - sample output - Name: selenium Version: 4.3.0 Summary: None Home-page: https://www.selenium.dev Author: None Author-email: None License: Apache 2.0 Location: /projects/myApp/venv/lib/python3.8/site-packages Requires: trio, trio-websocket, urllib3 Required-by:
Cool Tip: How to list dependencies of the installed Python packages! Read More →
You can also check the Python package version using the pip as follows:
$ pip freeze | grep selenium - sample output - selenium==4.3.0
8 Best Ways to Check the Package Version in Python
In this article, I’ll show you how to check the version of a Python module (package, library).
These are the eight best ways to check the version of a Python module:
- Method 1: pip show my_package
- Method 2: pip list
- Method 3: pip list | findstr my_package
- Method 4: my_package.__version__
- Method 5: importlib.metadata.version
- Method 6: conda list
- Method 7: pip freeze
- Method 8: pip freeze | grep my_package
Let’s dive into some examples for each of those next!
Method 1: pip show
To check which version of a given Python library, say xyz , is installed, use pip show xyz or pip3 show xyz . For example, to check the version of your NumPy installation, run pip show numpy in your CMD/Powershell (Windows), or terminal (macOS/Linux/Ubuntu).
This will work if your pip installation is version 1.3 or higher—which is likely to hold in your case because pip 1.3 was released a decade ago in 2013!!
Here’s an example in my Windows Powershell for NumPy: I’ve highlighted the line that shows that my package version is 1.21.0 :
PS C:\Users\xcent> pip show numpy Name: numpy Version: 1.21.0 Summary: NumPy is the fundamental package for array computing with Python. Home-page: https://www.numpy.org Author: Travis E. Oliphant et al. Author-email: None License: BSD Location: c:\users\xcent\appdata\local\programs\python\python39\lib\site-packages Requires: Required-by: pandas, matplotlib
In some instances, this will not work—depending on your environment. In this case, try those commands before giving up:
python -m pip show numpy python3 -m pip show numpy py -m pip show numpy pip3 show numpy
Of course, replace “ numpy ” with your particular package name.
Method 2: pip list
To check the versions of all installed packages, use pip list and locate the version of your particular package in the output list of package versions sorted alphabetically.
This will work if your pip installation is version 1.3 or higher.
Here’s an example in my Windows Powershell, I’ve highlighted the line that shows that my package version is 1.21.0:
PS C:\Users\xcent> pip list Package Version --------------- --------- beautifulsoup4 4.9.3 bs4 0.0.1 certifi 2021.5.30 chardet 4.0.0 cycler 0.10.0 idna 2.10 kiwisolver 1.3.1 matplotlib 3.4.2 mss 6.1.0 numpy 1.21.0 pandas 1.3.1 Pillow 8.3.0 pip 21.1.1 pyparsing 2.4.7 python-dateutil 2.8.1 pytz 2021.1 requests 2.25.1 setuptools 56.0.0 six 1.16.0 soupsieve 2.2.1 urllib3 1.26.6
In some instances, this will not work—depending on your environment. Then try those commands before giving up:
python -m pip list python3 -m pip list py -m pip list pip3 list
Method 3: pip list + findstr on Windows
To check the versions of a single package on Windows, you can chain pip list with findstr xyz using the CMD or Powershell command: pip3 list | findstr numpy to locate the version of your particular package xyz in the output list of package versions automatically.
Here’s an example for numpy :
pip3 list | findstr numpy 1.21.0
Method 4: Library.__version__ Attribute
To check your package installation in your Python script, you can also use the xyz.__version__ attribute of the particular library xyz . Not all packages provide this attribute but as it is recommended by PEP, it’ll work for most libraries.
import numpy print(numpy.__version__) # 1.21.0
Here’s an excerpt from the PEP 8 docs mentioning the __version__ attribute.
“PEP 8 describes the use of a module attribute called __version__ for recording “Subversion, CVS, or RCS” version strings using keyword expansion. In the PEP author’s own email archives, the earliest example of the use of an __version__ module attribute by independent module developers dates back to 1995.”
Method 5: importlib.metadata.version
The importlib.metadata library provides a general way to check the package version in your Python script via importlib.metadata.version(‘xyz’) for library xyz . This returns a string representation of the specific version. For example, importlib.metadata.version(‘numpy’) returns 1.21.0 in my current environment.
import importlib.metadata print(importlib.metadata.version('numpy')) # 1.21.0
Method 6: conda list
If you have created your Python environment with Anaconda, you can use conda list to list all packages installed in your (virtual) environment. Optionally, you can add a regular expression using the syntax conda list regex to list only packages matching a certain pattern.
How to list all packages in the current environment?
How to list all packages installed into the environment ‘xyz’ ?
Regex: How to list all packages starting with ‘py’ ?
Regex: How to list all packages starting with ‘py’ or ‘code’ ?
Method 7: pip freeze
The pip freeze command without any option lists all installed Python packages in your environment in alphabetically order (ignoring UPPERCASE or lowercase). You can spot your specific package if it is installed in the environment.
Output from my local Windows environment with PowerShell (strange packages I know) ;):
PS C:\Users\xcent> pip freeze asn1crypto==1.5.1 et-xmlfile==1.1.0 openpyxl==3.0.10
For example, I have the Python package openpyxl installed with version 3.0.10 .
You can modify or exclude specific packages using the options provided in this screenshot:
Method 8: pip freeze + grep on Linux/Ubuntu/macOS
To check the versions of a single package on Linux/Ubuntu/macOS, you can chain pip freeze with grep xyz using the CMD or Powershell command: pip freeze | grep xyz to programmatically locate the version of your particular package xyz in the output list of package versions.
Here’s an example for numpy :
pip freeze | grep scikit-learn scikit-learn==0.17.1
Related Questions
Check Package Version Python
How to check package version in Python?
To check which version of a given Python package is installed, use pip show my_package . For example, to check the version of your NumPy installation, run pip show numpy in your CMD/Powershell (Windows), or terminal (macOS/Linux/Ubuntu).
Check Package Version Linux
How to check my package version in Linux?
To check which version of a given Python package is installed, use pip show my_package . For example, to check the version of your NumPy installation, run pip show numpy in your Linux terminal.
Check Package Version Ubuntu
How to check my package version in Ubuntu?
To check which version of a given Python package is installed, use pip show my_package . For example, to check the version of your NumPy installation, run pip show numpy in your Ubuntu terminal/shall/bash.
Check Package Version Windows
How to check package version on Windows?
To check which version of a given Python package is installed, use pip show my_package . For example, to check the version of your NumPy installation, run pip show numpy in your Windows CMD, command line, or PowerShell.
Check Package Version Mac
How to check package version on macOS?
To check which version of a given Python package is installed, use pip show my_package . For example, to check the version of your NumPy installation, run pip show numpy in your macOS terminal.
Check Package Version Jupyter Notebook
How to check package version in your Jupyter Notebook?
To check which version of a given Python package is installed, add the line !pip show my_package to your notebook cell where you want to check. Notice the exclamation mark prefix ! that allows you to run commands in your Python script cell. For example, to check the version of your NumPy installation, run !pip show numpy in your notebook.
For example, this is a screenshot on how this looks for numpy in a Jupyter Notebook:
Check Package Version Terminal
How to check package version in my terminal?
To check which version of a given Python package is installed, use pip show my_package . For example, to check the version of your NumPy installation, run pip show numpy in your terminal.
Check Package Version Conda/Anaconda
How to check package version in my conda installation?
Use conda list ‘my_package’ to list version information about the specific package installed in your (virtual) environment.
Check Package Version with PIP
How to check package version with pip?
You can use multiple commands to check the package version with PIP such as pip show my_package , pip list , pip freeze , and pip list .
pip show my_package pip list pip freeze pip list
Check Package Version in VSCode or PyCharm
How to check package version in VSCode or PyCharm?
Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) such as VSCode or PyCharm provide a built-in terminal where you can run pip show my_package to check the current version of my_package in the specific environment you’re running the command in.
pip show my_package pip list pip freeze
You can type any of those commands in your IDE terminal like so:
Summary
In this article, you’ve learned those best ways to check a Python package version:
- Method 1: pip show my_package
- Method 2: pip list
- Method 3: pip list | findstr my_package
- Method 4: my_package.__version__
- Method 5: importlib.metadata.version
- Method 6: conda list
- Method 7: pip freeze
- Method 8: pip freeze | grep my_package
Thanks for giving us your valued attention — we’re grateful to have you here! 🙂
Programmer Humor
There are only 10 kinds of people in this world: those who know binary and those who don’t.
👩🧔♂️
~~~
There are 10 types of people in the world. Those who understand trinary, those who don’t, and those who mistake it for binary.
👩🧔♂️👱♀️
While working as a researcher in distributed systems, Dr. Christian Mayer found his love for teaching computer science students.
To help students reach higher levels of Python success, he founded the programming education website Finxter.com that has taught exponential skills to millions of coders worldwide. He’s the author of the best-selling programming books Python One-Liners (NoStarch 2020), The Art of Clean Code (NoStarch 2022), and The Book of Dash (NoStarch 2022). Chris also coauthored the Coffee Break Python series of self-published books. He’s a computer science enthusiast, freelancer, and owner of one of the top 10 largest Python blogs worldwide.
His passions are writing, reading, and coding. But his greatest passion is to serve aspiring coders through Finxter and help them to boost their skills. You can join his free email academy here.
Be on the Right Side of Change 🚀
- The world is changing exponentially. Disruptive technologies such as AI, crypto, and automation eliminate entire industries. 🤖
- Do you feel uncertain and afraid of being replaced by machines, leaving you without money, purpose, or value? Fear not! There a way to not merely survive but thrive in this new world!
- Finxter is here to help you stay ahead of the curve, so you can keep winning as paradigms shift.
Learning Resources 🧑💻
⭐ Boost your skills. Join our free email academy with daily emails teaching exponential with 1000+ tutorials on AI, data science, Python, freelancing, and Blockchain development!
Join the Finxter Academy and unlock access to premium courses 👑 to certify your skills in exponential technologies and programming.
New Finxter Tutorials:
Finxter Categories: