[Tut] How to Check ‘abc’ Package Version in Python?

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How to Check ‘abc’ Package Version in Python?

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In this article, I’ll show you:

How to check the version of the Python module (package, library)

Code:

abc

? And how to check if

Code:

abc

is installed anyways?

These are the eight best ways to check the installed version of the Python module

Code:

abc

:

• Method 1:
  Code:

  pip show abc
  
  
• Method 2:
  Code:

  pip list
  
  
• Method 3:
  Code:

  pip list | findstr abc
  
  
• Method 4:
  Code:

  library.__version__
  
  
• Method 5:
  Code:

  importlib.metadata.version
  
  
• Method 6:
  Code:

  conda list
  
  
• Method 7:
  Code:

  pip freeze
  
  
• Method 8:
  Code:

  pip freeze | grep abc

Before we go into these ways to check your

Code:

abc

version, let’s first quickly understand how versioning works in Python—you’ll be thankful to have spent a few seconds on this topic, believe me!

A Note on Python Version Numbering

Python versioning adds a unique identifier to different package versions using semantic versioning. Semantic versioning consists of three numerical units of versioning information in the format

Code:

major.minor.patch

.



In this tutorial, we’ll use the shorthand general version abbreviation like so:

Code:

x.y.z

Practical examples would use numerical values for

Code:

x

,

Code:

y

, and

Code:

z

:

• Code:

  1.2.3
  
  
• Code:

  4.1.4
  
  
• Code:

  1.0.0

This is shorthand for

Code:

major.minor.patch

• Major releases (
  Code:

  0.1.0
  to
  Code:

  1.0.0
  ) are used for the first stable release or “breaking changes”, i.e., major updates that break backward compatibility.
  
  
• Minor releases (
  Code:

  0.1.0
  to
  Code:

  0.2.0
  ) are used for larger bug fixes and new features that are backward compatible.
  
  
• Patch releases (
  Code:

  0.1.0
  to
  Code:

  0.1.1
  ) are used for smaller bug fixes that are backward compatible.
  

Let’s dive into the meat of this article:

Question: How to check the (major, minor, patch) version of

Code:

abc

in your current Python environment?

Method 1: pip show

To check which version of the Python library

Code:

abc

is installed, run

Code:

pip show abc

or

Code:

pip3 show abc

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: I’ve highlighted the line that shows that my package version is

Code:

a.b.c

:

Code:

PS C:\Users\xcent> pip show abc Name: abc Version: a.b.c Summary: ... Home-page: ... Author: ... Author-email: ... License: ... Location: ... Requires: ... Required-by: ...

In some instances, this will not work—depending on your environment. In this case, try those commands before giving up:

Code:

python -m pip show abc python3 -m pip show abc py -m pip show abc pip3 show abc

Next, we’ll dive into more ways to check your

Code:

abc

version.



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Method 2: pip list

To check the versions of all installed packages, use

Code:

pip list

and locate the version of

Code:

abc

in the output list of package versions sorted alphabetically.

This will work if your pip installation is version 1.3 or higher.

Here’s a simplified example for Windows Powershell, I’ve highlighted the line that shows the package version is

Code:

1.2.3

:

Code:

PS C:\Users\xcent> pip list Package Version --------------- --------- aaa 1.2.3 ... abc 1.2.3 ... zzz 1.2.3

In some instances, this will not work—depending on your environment. Then try those commands before giving up:

Code:

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

Code:

pip list

with

Code:

findstr abc

using the CMD or Powershell command:

Code:

pip3 list | findstr abc

to locate the version of

Code:

abc

in the output list of package versions automatically.

Here’s an example for

Code:

abc

:

Code:

pip3 list | findstr abc 1.2.3

Method 4: Module __version__ Attribute

To check which version is installed of a given

Code:

library

, you can use the

Code:

library.__version__

attribute after importing the library (package, module) with

Code:

import library

.

Here’s the code:

Code:

import my_library print(my_library.__version__) # x.y.z for your version output

Here’s an excerpt from the PEP 8 docs mentioning the

Code:

__version__

attribute.

“PEP 8 describes the use of a module attribute called

Code:

__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

Code:

__version__

module attribute by independent module developers dates back to 1995.”

You can also use the following one-liner snippet to run this from your terminal (macOS, Linux, Ubuntu) or CMD/Powershell (Windows):

Code:

python3 -c "import my_library; print(my_library.__version__)"

However, this method doesn’t work for all libraries, so while simple, I don’t recommend it as a general approach for that reason.

Method 5: importlib.metadata.version

The

Code:

importlib.metadata

library provides a general way to check the package version in your Python script via

Code:

importlib.metadata.version('abc')

for library

Code:

abc

. This returns a string representation of the specific version such as

Code:

1.2.3

depending on the concrete version in your environment.

Here’s the code:

Code:

import importlib.metadata print(importlib.metadata.version('abc')) # 1.2.3

Method 6: conda list

If you have created your Python environment with Anaconda, you can use

Code:

conda list

to list all packages installed in your (virtual) environment. Optionally, you can add a regular expression using the syntax

Code:

conda list regex

to list only packages matching a certain pattern.

How to list all packages in the current environment?

Code:

conda list

How to list all packages installed into the environment

Code:

'xyz'

?

Code:

conda list -n xyz

Regex: How to list all packages starting with

Code:

'abc'

?

Code:

conda list '^abc'

Method 7: pip freeze

The

Code:

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

Code:

abc

if it is installed in the environment.

Code:

pip freeze

Output example (depending on your concrete environment/installation):

Code:

PS C:\Users\xcent> pip freeze aaa==1.2.3 ... abc==1.2.3 ... zzz==1.2.3

You can modify or exclude specific packages using the options provided in this screenshot:

source

Method 8: pip freeze + grep on Linux/Ubuntu/macOS

To check the versions of a single package on Linux/Ubuntu/macOS, you can chain

Code:

pip freeze

with

Code:

grep abc

using the CMD or Powershell command:

Code:

pip freeze | grep abc

to programmatically locate the version of your particular package

Code:

abc

in the output list of package versions.

Here’s an example for

Code:

abc

:

Code:

pip freeze | grep abc abc==1.2.3

Related Questions

Check abc Installed Python

How to check if

Code:

abc

is installed in your Python script?

To check if

Code:

abc

is installed in your Python script, you can run

Code:

import abc

in your Python shell and surround it by a try/except to catch a potential

Code:

ModuleNotFoundError

.

Code:

try: import abc print("Module abc installed") except ModuleNotFoundError: print("Module abc not installed")

Check abc Version Python

How to check the package version of

Code:

abc

in Python?

To check which version of

Code:

abc

is installed, use

Code:

pip show abc

or

Code:

pip3 show abc

in your CMD/Powershell (Windows), or terminal (macOS/Linux/Ubuntu) to obtain the output

Code:

major.minor.patch

.

Code:

pip show abc # or pip3 show abc # 1.2.3

Check abc Version Linux

How to check my

Code:

abc

version in Linux?

To check which version of

Code:

abc

is installed, use

Code:

pip show abc

or

Code:

pip3 show abc

in your Linux terminal.

Code:

pip show abc # or pip3 show abc # 1.2.3

Check abc Version Ubuntu

How to check my

Code:

abc

version in Ubuntu?

To check which version of

Code:

abc

is installed, use

Code:

pip show abc

or

Code:

pip3 show abc

in your Ubuntu terminal.

Code:

pip show abc # or pip3 show abc # 1.2.3

Check abc Version Windows

How to check my

Code:

abc

version on Windows?

To check which version of

Code:

abc

is installed, use

Code:

pip show abc

or

Code:

pip3 show abc

in your Windows CMD, command line, or PowerShell.

Code:

pip show abc # or pip3 show abc # 1.2.3

Check abc Version Mac

How to check my

Code:

abc

version on macOS?

To check which version of

Code:

abc

is installed, use

Code:

pip show abc

or

Code:

pip3 show abc

in your macOS terminal.

Code:

pip show abc # or pip3 show abc # 1.2.3

Check abc Version Jupyter Notebook

How to check my

Code:

abc

version in my Jupyter Notebook?

To check which version of

Code:

abc

is installed, add the line

Code:

!pip show abc

to your notebook cell where you want to check. Notice the exclamation mark prefix

Code:

!

that allows you to run commands in your Python script cell.

Code:

!pip show abc

Output: The following is an example on how this looks for

Code:

abc

in a Jupyter Notebook cell:

Code:

Package Version --------------- --------- aaa 1.2.3 ... abc 1.2.3 ... zzz 1.2.3

Check abc Version Conda/Anaconda

How to check the

Code:

abc

version in my conda installation?

Use

Code:

conda list 'abc'

to list version information about the specific package installed in your (virtual) environment.

Code:

conda list 'abc'

Check abc Version with PIP

How to check the

Code:

abc

version with pip?

You can use multiple commands to check the

Code:

abc

version with PIP such as

Code:

pip show abc

,

Code:

pip list

,

Code:

pip freeze

, and

Code:

pip list

.

Code:

pip show abc pip list pip freeze pip list

The former will output the specific version of

Code:

abc

. The remaining will output the version information of all installed packages and you have to locate

Code:

abc

first.

Check Package Version in VSCode or PyCharm

How to check the

Code:

abc

version in VSCode or PyCharm?

Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) such as VSCode or PyCharm provide a built-in terminal where you can run

Code:

pip show abc

to check the current version of

Code:

abc

in the specific environment you’re running the command in.

Code:

pip show abc pip3 show abc pip list pip3 list pip freeze pip3 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:
  Code:

  pip show abc
  
  
• Method 2:
  Code:

  pip list
  
  
• Method 3:
  Code:

  pip list | findstr abc
  
  
• Method 4:
  Code:

  library.__version__
  
  
• Method 5:
  Code:

  importlib.metadata.version
  
  
• Method 6:
  Code:

  conda list
  
  
• Method 7:
  Code:

  pip freeze
  
  
• Method 8:
  Code:

  pip freeze | grep abc

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.


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