pip or pip3 to install packages for Python 3

Question

I have a Macbook with OS X El Captain  I think that Python 2 7 comes preinstalled on it  However  I installed Python 3 5 too  When I started using Python 3  I read that if I want to install a package  I should type   pip3 install some package   Anyway  now when I use  pip install some package   I get some package installed for Python 3  I mean I can import it and use it without problems  Moreover  when I type just pip3 in Terminal  I got this message about the usage   Usage       pip  lt command gt   options    which is the same message I get when I type just pip   Does it mean that in previos versions  things were different  and now pip and pip3 can be used interchangeably  If so  and for the sake of argument  how can I install packages for Python 2 instead of Python 3

User · Answer

If you had python 2 x and then installed python3  your pip will be pointing to pip3   you can verify that by typing pip --version which would be the same as pip3 --version    On your system you have now pip  pip2 and pip3    If you want you can change pip to point to pip2 instead of pip3

User · Answer

When you install python3  pip3 gets installed  And if you don t have another python installation like python2 7  then a link is created which points pip to pip3   So pip is a link to to pip3 if there is no other version of python installed other than python3   pip generally points to the first installation

User · Answer

On my Windows instance - and I do not fully understand my environment - using pip3 to install the kaggle-cli package worked - whereas pip did not  I was working in a conda environment and the environments appear to be different       fastai  C  Users redact Downloads fast ai deeplearning1 nbs pip   --version       pip 9 0 1 from C  ProgramData Anaconda3 envs fastai lib site-packages  python 3 6        fastai  C  Users redact Downloads fast ai deeplearning1 nbs pip3   --version      pip 9 0 1 from c  users redact appdata local programs python python36 lib site-packages    python 3 6

User · Answer

In my system  I use the update alternatives  sudo update-alternatives --install  usr bin pip pip  usr bin pip3 1 sudo update-alternatives --install  usr bin pip pip  usr bin pip2 2  If I want to switch between them I use the following command  sudo update-alternatives --config pip  Note  The 1st line is enough if you have only pip3 installed and not pip2

User · Answer

Your pip is a soft link to the same executable file path with pip3  you can use the commands below to check where your pip and pip3 real paths are     ls -l  which pip    ls -l  which pip3    You may also use the commands below to know more details     pip show pip   pip3 show pip   When we install different versions of python  we may create such soft links to   set default pip to some version  make different links for different versions    It is the same situation with python  python2  python3  More information below if you re interested in how it happens in different cases    MacOS Homebrew Fedora CentOS Debian Ubuntu

User · Answer

If you installed Python 2 7  I think you could use pip2 and pip2 7 to install packages specifically for Python 2  like  pip2 install some pacakge   or   pip2 7 install some package   And you may use pip3 or pip3 5 to install pacakges specifically for Python 3

User · Answer

By illustration   pip --version   pip 19 0 3 from  usr lib python3 7 site-packages pip  python 3 7   pip3 --version   pip 19 0 3 from  usr lib python3 7 site-packages pip  python 3 7   python --version   Python 3 7 3  which python    usr bin python  ls -l   usr bin python    lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 7 Mar 26 14 43  usr bin python - gt  python3  which python3    usr bin python3  ls -l  usr bin python3   lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 9 Mar 26 14 43  usr bin python3 - gt  python3 7  ls -l  usr bin python3 7   -rwxr-xr-x 2 root root 14120 Mar 26 14 43  usr bin python3 7   Thus  my in my default system python  Python 3 7 3   pip is pip3

User · Answer

Given an activated Python 3 6 virtualenv in somepath venv  the following aliases resolved the various issues on a macOS Sierra where pip insisted on pointing to Apple s 2 7 Python   alias pip  python somepath venv lib python3 6 site-packages pip   main   py    This didn t work so well when I had to do sudo pip as the root user doesn t know anything about my alias or the virtualenv  so I had to add an extra alias to handle this as well   It s a hack  but it works  and I know what it does   alias sudopip  sudo somepath venv bin python somepath venv lib python3 6 site-packages pip   main   py    background   pip3 did not exist to start  command not found  with and which pip would return  opt local Library Frameworks Python framework Versions 2 7 bin pip  the Apple Python   Python 3 6 was installed via macports   After activation of the 3 6 virtualenv I wanted to work with  which python would return somepath venv bin python   Somehow pip install would do the right thing and hit my virtualenv  but pip list would rattle off Python 2 7 packages   For Python  this is batting way beneath my expectations in terms of beginner-friendliness

User · Answer

This is a tricky subject  In the end  if you invoke pip it will invoke either pip2 or pip3  depending on how you set your system up

User · Answer

I think pip  pip2 and pip3 are not soft links to the same executable file path  Note these commands and results in my Linux terminal  mrz mrz-pc     ls -l  which pip  -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 292 Nov 10  2016  usr bin pip mrz mrz-pc     ls -l  which pip2  -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 283 Nov 10  2016  usr bin pip2 mrz mrz-pc     ls -l  which pip3  -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 293 Nov 10  2016  usr bin pip3 mrz mrz-pc     pip -V pip 9 0 1 from  home mrz  local lib python2 7 site-packages  python 2 7  mrz mrz-pc     pip2 -V pip 8 1 1 from  usr lib python2 7 dist-packages  python 2 7  mrz mrz-pc     pip3 -V pip 9 0 1 from  home mrz  local lib python3 5 site-packages  python 3 5   As you see they exist in different paths  pip3 always operates on the Python3 environment only  as pip2 does with Python2  pip operates in whichever environment is appropriate to the context  For example  if you are in a Python3 venv  pip will operate on the Python3 environment

[python] pip or pip3 to install packages for Python 3?

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