Как обновить python из командной строки windows

How to Update Python: A Quick and Easy Guide

Keeping your Python programming language up to date is essential for taking advantage of the latest features, improvements, and security fixes. As a Python programmer, you’ll want to make sure you’re using the most recent version to ensure optimal performance and compatibility with other libraries and frameworks.

To update Python on Windows and macOS, you can download the latest version from the official Python website, run the installer, and follow the prompts. If you’re using Linux, you can add the deadsnakes PPA, update your apt cache, and install the updated Python package.

And there is always a but.

Keeping your Python installation current ensures you’re leveraging the full potential of the language. In this article, we’ll go over how to update Python on Windows, macOS, and Linux. For each operating system, we’ll outline the steps that you will need to update Python to the latest version.

Let’s get into it!

Table of Contents

How to Check Your Current Python Version

Before updating Python, it’s essential to know your current version of Python. You can easily check the Python version on your computer via the command line.

This process varies slightly depending on your operating system.

How to Check Current Python Version on Windows

To check the current Python version on Windows, you can follow the steps given below:

1. Press Win + R, type cmd, and hit Enter to open the Command Line Interface.
2. Type python –version and press Enter. You should see your Python version displayed as shown in the image below:

This command will print the current Python version onto the terminal. As you can see in the image above, I am using the Python version 3.10.2.

How to Check Python Version on Mac and Linux

To check the current Python version on Mac and Linux, you can follow the steps given below:

1. Open the Terminal (Press Ctrl+Alt+T on Linux).
2. Type python3 –version and press Enter to display your Python 3 version. Alternatively, you may use python3 -V.

In both Windows and Mac/Linux, the output will look something like this:

Python 3.10.2

Now that you know your current version, you can proceed with updating it if necessary.

In the next section, we’ll look at the process of updating Python to the latest version.

How to Update Python on Windows

In this section, you’ll learn how to update Python on your Windows computer using three different methods:

1. Using the Python installer
2. Using the Windows Microsoft Store
3. Using Chocolatey

1. Using the Python Installer

To upgrade Python on your Windows system using the Python installer, follow these steps:

1. Visit the Python Releases for Windows section on Python’s official website to find the desired version of Python.
2. Click the DownloadPython button to download the installation file for the version you want, such as Python 3.11.
3. Run the downloaded installer. If you’re upgrading from an existing Python 3.x installation, the installer will allow you to install the newer version alongside the older one.
4. During the installation process, ensure that the “Add Python to PATH” option is checked, so the new version is available in your system’s PATH.
5. Finally, open a command prompt (cmd) and type py.exe to verify that Python has been updated successfully.

Once you carry out all the steps outlined above, you’ll be able to use new features that come with the latest versions.

2. Using the Windows Microsoft Store

Another option to update Python is through the Windows Microsoft Store.

You can follow the steps below if you’d like to update Python using the Windows Microsoft Store:

1. Open the Microsoft Store on your Windows system and search for “Python.”
2. Choose the Python version you want to install, such as Python 3.11.
3. Click Get or Install to start the installation process.
4. Once the installation is complete, you can find Python in the Start Menu.
5. Open a command prompt (cmd) and type py.exe to verify that the new Python version has been installed successfully.

3. Using Chocolatey to Update Python

Chocolatey is a package manager for Windows that can help you update Python with ease.

You can follow the steps given below to update Python using Chocolatey:

1. Install Chocolatey on your computer if you haven’t already. To do this, launch PowerShell as an administrator and run the following command:

Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process -Force; [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol -bor 3072; iex ((Invoke-WebRequest -Uri 'https://chocolatey.org/install.ps1' -UseBasicParsing).Content)

1. Once Chocolatey is installed, you can upgrade Python by running the following command in an elevated PowerShell window:

choco install python --pre

This will install the latest pre-release version of Python, such as Python 3.11.

1. To keep your Python installation up-to-date in the future, simply run:

choco upgrade python

1. Verify that Python has been updated by opening a command prompt (cmd) and typing py.exe.

You can see that our old version of Python got updated to the latest version, from 3.10 to 3.11.

By following the instructions for one of these methods, your Python installation on Windows should be up-to-date and ready for you to use in your development environment.

How to Update Version of Python on MacOS

In this section, we’ll discuss two methods to update Python to the latest Python version on your MacOS: using the Python.org installer and using Homebrew.

1. Using the Python Installer

To update Python using the Python.org installer, follow the steps below:

1. Visit the Python.org website and navigate to the Downloads section.
2. Click on the “Latest Python 3 Release” link to download the installer for the most recent version.
3. Once the download is complete, open the installer and follow the prompts to start the installation process.
4. Throughout the installation, ensure that you select the “Add Python to PATH” option to update your system’s PATH environment variable.

After a successful installation, check your updated version by opening a terminal and typing python3 –version. This should display the latest version.

2. Using Homebrew to Update Python

Homebrew is a popular package manager for MacOS that can simplify your Python upgrading process. Follow these steps to upgrade Python version using Homebrew:

1. First, ensure that Homebrew is installed on your computer. If not, you can install it by following the instructions on the Homebrew website.
2. Open a terminal window and update Homebrew by running the following command: brew update.
3. Now, to install the latest version of Python, you can run: brew install python. This command will download and install the most recent Python version.
4. If you have already installed Python using Homebrew, you can use the command brew upgrade python instead.

Once the installation is complete, check your updated Python version in the terminal by running python3 –version. Your system should now be running the latest version of Python.

By following either the Python.org Installer method or the Homebrew method, you can easily update your Python installation on MacOS.

How to Update Python on Linux

In this section, you’ll learn how to upgrade Python on Linux using the APT package manager.

The APT package manager is an essential tool for managing software on Ubuntu and other Debian-based distributions.

To upgrade Python using the APT repository, you can follow these steps:

1. Open a terminal window.
2. Update the package list by running the following command: sudo apt-get update
3. Upgrade Python by executing the following command: sudo apt-get upgrade This command will upgrade Python to the default version in your distribution’s package manager, which might be slightly behind the official release but is considered stable.
4. Verify the installation by running the following command: python —version This will display your existing version. If it has been successfully upgraded, it will show the new version.

By following the instructions in this section, you can successfully upgrade Python on your Linux system, ensuring you have the latest features, security patches, bug fixes, and tools available for your projects.

Final Thoughts

Updating Python is an essential step in keeping your development environment safe and efficient. By doing so, you’re ensuring access to the latest features and improvements.

When you upgrade Python, you benefit from the efforts of the Python community to make the language better, more secure, and more capable.

The newer versions of Python can give you faster execution, better memory management, and access to new libraries or functions. Every update to Python empowers you to write cleaner and more efficient code.

Whether you’re using Windows, macOS, or Linux, following the right steps will ensure a smooth transition to the newer version!

Frequently Asked Questions

In this section, we’ve listed some frequently asked questions when updating Python to the latest version. Give it a look as these questions may be helpful in some of the confusion you might have.

How to upgrade Python on Windows?

To upgrade Python on Windows, visit the Python official website and download the installer for the version you want to update to.

Run the installer and follow the on-screen instructions. Remember to tick the “Add Python to PATH” option during the installation.

Can I update Python using pip?

No, you can’t update Python itself using pip. Pip is a popular Python package manager; it’s used to install and manage software packages/libraries written in Python, not to upgrade the Python interpreter itself.

How to update Python with conda?

To upgrade your Python version with conda, open your terminal or command prompt and enter the following command:

conda update python 

This will upgrade your Python version to the latest one available in your conda environment.

How can I switch from Python 2.7 to 3.6 on Linux?

To switch from Python 2.7 to 3.6 on Linux, you can use the following commands:

sudo apt update sudo apt install python3.6 

My Python Version is not updating, what should I do?

If your Python versions are not updating, double-check that you have installed the new version correctly and that your system PATH includes the updated version. You can also try uninstalling the old version of Python before installing the new one.

To learn more about handling errors in Python, check the following video out:

How to update Python on Windows?

In this article, we are going to see how to update Python in the Windows system. For the sake of example, we will be upgrading from Python 3.6.8 to Python 3.9.6.

To check the current version of python on your system, use the following command in the command prompt:

python -V

This will show you your current python version as shown below:

Using the executable installer:

Follow the below steps to update your python version:

Step 2: Click on the Downloads tab.

Here you will get a list of available releases.

Step 3: Download the version you need to upgrade to based on your system specifications(ie, 32-bit or 64-bit). Here we will be downloading the 64-bit installer for 3.9.6.

Step 4: Click on the installer and it will begin the installation. Make sure to select the “Add Python 3.9 to PATH” option. and click on “Install Now”.

This will start the installation as shown below:

After the installation is successful you will get the following message:

Now if you open up your cmd and use the below command:

python -V

You’ll see your version of Python has been updated to 3.9.6 as shown below:

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Last Updated : 31 Aug, 2021

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4. Using Python on Windows¶

This document aims to give an overview of Windows-specific behaviour you should know about when using Python on Microsoft Windows.

Unlike most Unix systems and services, Windows does not include a system supported installation of Python. To make Python available, the CPython team has compiled Windows installers (MSI packages) with every release for many years. These installers are primarily intended to add a per-user installation of Python, with the core interpreter and library being used by a single user. The installer is also able to install for all users of a single machine, and a separate ZIP file is available for application-local distributions.

As specified in PEP 11, a Python release only supports a Windows platform while Microsoft considers the platform under extended support. This means that Python 3.12 supports Windows 8.1 and newer. If you require Windows 7 support, please install Python 3.8.

There are a number of different installers available for Windows, each with certain benefits and downsides.

The full installer contains all components and is the best option for developers using Python for any kind of project.

The Microsoft Store package is a simple installation of Python that is suitable for running scripts and packages, and using IDLE or other development environments. It requires Windows 10 and above, but can be safely installed without corrupting other programs. It also provides many convenient commands for launching Python and its tools.

The nuget.org packages are lightweight installations intended for continuous integration systems. It can be used to build Python packages or run scripts, but is not updateable and has no user interface tools.

The embeddable package is a minimal package of Python suitable for embedding into a larger application.

4.1. The full installer¶

4.1.1. Installation steps¶

Four Python 3.12 installers are available for download — two each for the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the interpreter. The web installer is a small initial download, and it will automatically download the required components as necessary. The offline installer includes the components necessary for a default installation and only requires an internet connection for optional features. See Installing Without Downloading for other ways to avoid downloading during installation.

After starting the installer, one of two options may be selected:

If you select “Install Now”:

• You will not need to be an administrator (unless a system update for the C Runtime Library is required or you install the Python Launcher for Windows for all users)
• Python will be installed into your user directory
• The Python Launcher for Windows will be installed according to the option at the bottom of the first page
• The standard library, test suite, launcher and pip will be installed
• If selected, the install directory will be added to your PATH
• Shortcuts will only be visible for the current user

Selecting “Customize installation” will allow you to select the features to install, the installation location and other options or post-install actions. To install debugging symbols or binaries, you will need to use this option.

To perform an all-users installation, you should select “Customize installation”. In this case:

• You may be required to provide administrative credentials or approval
• Python will be installed into the Program Files directory
• The Python Launcher for Windows will be installed into the Windows directory
• Optional features may be selected during installation
• The standard library can be pre-compiled to bytecode
• If selected, the install directory will be added to the system PATH
• Shortcuts are available for all users

4.1.2. Removing the MAX_PATH Limitation¶

Windows historically has limited path lengths to 260 characters. This meant that paths longer than this would not resolve and errors would result.

In the latest versions of Windows, this limitation can be expanded to approximately 32,000 characters. Your administrator will need to activate the “Enable Win32 long paths” group policy, or set LongPathsEnabled to 1 in the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem .

This allows the open() function, the os module and most other path functionality to accept and return paths longer than 260 characters.

After changing the above option, no further configuration is required.

Changed in version 3.6: Support for long paths was enabled in Python.

4.1.3. Installing Without UI¶

All of the options available in the installer UI can also be specified from the command line, allowing scripted installers to replicate an installation on many machines without user interaction. These options may also be set without suppressing the UI in order to change some of the defaults.

The following options (found by executing the installer with /? ) can be passed into the installer:

to display progress without requiring user interaction

to install/uninstall without displaying any UI

to prevent user customization

to remove Python (without confirmation)

to pre-download all components

to specify log files location

All other options are passed as name=value , where the value is usually 0 to disable a feature, 1 to enable a feature, or a path. The full list of available options is shown below.

Perform a system-wide installation.

The installation directory

Selected based on InstallAllUsers

The default installation directory for all-user installs

%ProgramFiles%\Python X.Y or %ProgramFiles(x86)%\Python X.Y

The default install directory for just-for-me installs

%LocalAppData%\Programs\Python\PythonXY or %LocalAppData%\Programs\Python\PythonXY-32 or %LocalAppData%\Programs\Python\PythonXY-64

The default custom install directory displayed in the UI

Create file associations if the launcher is also installed.

Compile all .py files to .pyc .

Prepend install and Scripts directories to PATH and add .PY to PATHEXT

Append install and Scripts directories to PATH and add .PY to PATHEXT

Create shortcuts for the interpreter, documentation and IDLE if installed.

Install Python manual

Install debug binaries

Install developer headers and libraries. Omitting this may lead to an unusable installation.

Install python.exe and related files. Omitting this may lead to an unusable installation.

Installs the launcher for all users. Also requires Include_launcher to be set to 1

Install standard library and extension modules. Omitting this may lead to an unusable installation.

Install bundled pip and setuptools

Install debugging symbols ( *.pdb )

Install Tcl/Tk support and IDLE

Install standard library test suite

Install utility scripts

Only installs the launcher. This will override most other options.

Disable most install UI

A custom message to display when the simplified install UI is used.

For example, to silently install a default, system-wide Python installation, you could use the following command (from an elevated command prompt):

python-3.9.0.exe /quiet InstallAllUsers=1 PrependPath=1 Include_test=0

To allow users to easily install a personal copy of Python without the test suite, you could provide a shortcut with the following command. This will display a simplified initial page and disallow customization:

python-3.9.0.exe InstallAllUsers=0 Include_launcher=0 Include_test=0 SimpleInstall=1 SimpleInstallDescription="Just for me, no test suite."

(Note that omitting the launcher also omits file associations, and is only recommended for per-user installs when there is also a system-wide installation that included the launcher.)

The options listed above can also be provided in a file named unattend.xml alongside the executable. This file specifies a list of options and values. When a value is provided as an attribute, it will be converted to a number if possible. Values provided as element text are always left as strings. This example file sets the same options as the previous example:

  Name="InstallAllUsers" Value="no" />  Name="Include_launcher" Value="0" />  Name="Include_test" Value="no" />  Name="SimpleInstall" Value="yes" />  Name="SimpleInstallDescription">Just for me, no test suite  

4.1.4. Installing Without Downloading¶

As some features of Python are not included in the initial installer download, selecting those features may require an internet connection. To avoid this need, all possible components may be downloaded on-demand to create a complete layout that will no longer require an internet connection regardless of the selected features. Note that this download may be bigger than required, but where a large number of installations are going to be performed it is very useful to have a locally cached copy.

Execute the following command from Command Prompt to download all possible required files. Remember to substitute python-3.9.0.exe for the actual name of your installer, and to create layouts in their own directories to avoid collisions between files with the same name.

python-3.9.0.exe /layout [optional target directory]

You may also specify the /quiet option to hide the progress display.

4.1.5. Modifying an install¶

Once Python has been installed, you can add or remove features through the Programs and Features tool that is part of Windows. Select the Python entry and choose “Uninstall/Change” to open the installer in maintenance mode.

“Modify” allows you to add or remove features by modifying the checkboxes — unchanged checkboxes will not install or remove anything. Some options cannot be changed in this mode, such as the install directory; to modify these, you will need to remove and then reinstall Python completely.

“Repair” will verify all the files that should be installed using the current settings and replace any that have been removed or modified.

“Uninstall” will remove Python entirely, with the exception of the Python Launcher for Windows , which has its own entry in Programs and Features.

4.2. The Microsoft Store package¶

New in version 3.7.2.

The Microsoft Store package is an easily installable Python interpreter that is intended mainly for interactive use, for example, by students.

To install the package, ensure you have the latest Windows 10 updates and search the Microsoft Store app for “Python 3.12”. Ensure that the app you select is published by the Python Software Foundation, and install it.

Python will always be available for free on the Microsoft Store. If you are asked to pay for it, you have not selected the correct package.

After installation, Python may be launched by finding it in Start. Alternatively, it will be available from any Command Prompt or PowerShell session by typing python . Further, pip and IDLE may be used by typing pip or idle . IDLE can also be found in Start.

All three commands are also available with version number suffixes, for example, as python3.exe and python3.x.exe as well as python.exe (where 3.x is the specific version you want to launch, such as 3.12). Open “Manage App Execution Aliases” through Start to select which version of Python is associated with each command. It is recommended to make sure that pip and idle are consistent with whichever version of python is selected.

Virtual environments can be created with python -m venv and activated and used as normal.

If you have installed another version of Python and added it to your PATH variable, it will be available as python.exe rather than the one from the Microsoft Store. To access the new installation, use python3.exe or python3.x.exe .

The py.exe launcher will detect this Python installation, but will prefer installations from the traditional installer.

To remove Python, open Settings and use Apps and Features, or else find Python in Start and right-click to select Uninstall. Uninstalling will remove all packages you installed directly into this Python installation, but will not remove any virtual environments

4.2.1. Known issues¶

4.2.1.1. Redirection of local data, registry, and temporary paths¶

Because of restrictions on Microsoft Store apps, Python scripts may not have full write access to shared locations such as TEMP and the registry. Instead, it will write to a private copy. If your scripts must modify the shared locations, you will need to install the full installer.

At runtime, Python will use a private copy of well-known Windows folders and the registry. For example, if the environment variable %APPDATA% is c:\Users\\AppData\ , then when writing to C:\Users\\AppData\Local will write to C:\Users\\AppData\Local\Packages\PythonSoftwareFoundation.Python.3.8_qbz5n2kfra8p0\LocalCache\Local\ .

When reading files, Windows will return the file from the private folder, or if that does not exist, the real Windows directory. For example reading C:\Windows\System32 returns the contents of C:\Windows\System32 plus the contents of C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\package_name\VFS\SystemX86 .

You can find the real path of any existing file using os.path.realpath() :

>>> import os >>> test_file = 'C:\\Users\\example\\AppData\\Local\\test.txt' >>> os.path.realpath(test_file) 'C:\\Users\\example\\AppData\\Local\\Packages\\PythonSoftwareFoundation.Python.3.8_qbz5n2kfra8p0\\LocalCache\\Local\\test.txt' 

When writing to the Windows Registry, the following behaviors exist:

• Reading from HKLM\\Software is allowed and results are merged with the registry.dat file in the package.
• Writing to HKLM\\Software is not allowed if the corresponding key/value exists, i.e. modifying existing keys.
• Writing to HKLM\\Software is allowed as long as a corresponding key/value does not exist in the package and the user has the correct access permissions.

For more detail on the technical basis for these limitations, please consult Microsoft’s documentation on packaged full-trust apps, currently available at docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/msix/desktop/desktop-to-uwp-behind-the-scenes

4.3. The nuget.org packages¶

New in version 3.5.2.

The nuget.org package is a reduced size Python environment intended for use on continuous integration and build systems that do not have a system-wide install of Python. While nuget is “the package manager for .NET”, it also works perfectly fine for packages containing build-time tools.

Visit nuget.org for the most up-to-date information on using nuget. What follows is a summary that is sufficient for Python developers.

The nuget.exe command line tool may be downloaded directly from https://aka.ms/nugetclidl , for example, using curl or PowerShell. With the tool, the latest version of Python for 64-bit or 32-bit machines is installed using:

nuget.exe install python -ExcludeVersion -OutputDirectory . nuget.exe install pythonx86 -ExcludeVersion -OutputDirectory .

To select a particular version, add a -Version 3.x.y . The output directory may be changed from . , and the package will be installed into a subdirectory. By default, the subdirectory is named the same as the package, and without the -ExcludeVersion option this name will include the specific version installed. Inside the subdirectory is a tools directory that contains the Python installation:

# Without -ExcludeVersion > .\python.3.5.2\tools\python.exe -V Python 3.5.2 # With -ExcludeVersion > .\python\tools\python.exe -V Python 3.5.2 

In general, nuget packages are not upgradeable, and newer versions should be installed side-by-side and referenced using the full path. Alternatively, delete the package directory manually and install it again. Many CI systems will do this automatically if they do not preserve files between builds.

Alongside the tools directory is a build\native directory. This contains a MSBuild properties file python.props that can be used in a C++ project to reference the Python install. Including the settings will automatically use the headers and import libraries in your build.

The package information pages on nuget.org are www.nuget.org/packages/python for the 64-bit version and www.nuget.org/packages/pythonx86 for the 32-bit version.

4.4. The embeddable package¶

New in version 3.5.

The embedded distribution is a ZIP file containing a minimal Python environment. It is intended for acting as part of another application, rather than being directly accessed by end-users.

When extracted, the embedded distribution is (almost) fully isolated from the user’s system, including environment variables, system registry settings, and installed packages. The standard library is included as pre-compiled and optimized .pyc files in a ZIP, and python3.dll , python37.dll , python.exe and pythonw.exe are all provided. Tcl/tk (including all dependents, such as Idle), pip and the Python documentation are not included.

The embedded distribution does not include the Microsoft C Runtime and it is the responsibility of the application installer to provide this. The runtime may have already been installed on a user’s system previously or automatically via Windows Update, and can be detected by finding ucrtbase.dll in the system directory.

Third-party packages should be installed by the application installer alongside the embedded distribution. Using pip to manage dependencies as for a regular Python installation is not supported with this distribution, though with some care it may be possible to include and use pip for automatic updates. In general, third-party packages should be treated as part of the application (“vendoring”) so that the developer can ensure compatibility with newer versions before providing updates to users.

The two recommended use cases for this distribution are described below.

4.4.1. Python Application¶

An application written in Python does not necessarily require users to be aware of that fact. The embedded distribution may be used in this case to include a private version of Python in an install package. Depending on how transparent it should be (or conversely, how professional it should appear), there are two options.

Using a specialized executable as a launcher requires some coding, but provides the most transparent experience for users. With a customized launcher, there are no obvious indications that the program is running on Python: icons can be customized, company and version information can be specified, and file associations behave properly. In most cases, a custom launcher should simply be able to call Py_Main with a hard-coded command line.

The simpler approach is to provide a batch file or generated shortcut that directly calls the python.exe or pythonw.exe with the required command-line arguments. In this case, the application will appear to be Python and not its actual name, and users may have trouble distinguishing it from other running Python processes or file associations.

With the latter approach, packages should be installed as directories alongside the Python executable to ensure they are available on the path. With the specialized launcher, packages can be located in other locations as there is an opportunity to specify the search path before launching the application.

4.4.2. Embedding Python¶

Applications written in native code often require some form of scripting language, and the embedded Python distribution can be used for this purpose. In general, the majority of the application is in native code, and some part will either invoke python.exe or directly use python3.dll . For either case, extracting the embedded distribution to a subdirectory of the application installation is sufficient to provide a loadable Python interpreter.

As with the application use, packages can be installed to any location as there is an opportunity to specify search paths before initializing the interpreter. Otherwise, there is no fundamental differences between using the embedded distribution and a regular installation.

4.5. Alternative bundles¶

Besides the standard CPython distribution, there are modified packages including additional functionality. The following is a list of popular versions and their key features:

Installer with multi-platform compatibility, documentation, PyWin32

Popular scientific modules (such as numpy, scipy and pandas) and the conda package manager.

“The Next Generation Python Environment and Package Manager”.

Previously Enthought provided Canopy, but it reached end of life in 2016.

Windows-specific distribution with prebuilt scientific packages and tools for building packages.

Note that these packages may not include the latest versions of Python or other libraries, and are not maintained or supported by the core Python team.

4.6. Configuring Python¶

To run Python conveniently from a command prompt, you might consider changing some default environment variables in Windows. While the installer provides an option to configure the PATH and PATHEXT variables for you, this is only reliable for a single, system-wide installation. If you regularly use multiple versions of Python, consider using the Python Launcher for Windows .

4.6.1. Excursus: Setting environment variables¶

Windows allows environment variables to be configured permanently at both the User level and the System level, or temporarily in a command prompt.

To temporarily set environment variables, open Command Prompt and use the set command:

C:\>set PATH=C:\Program Files\Python 3.9;%PATH% C:\>set PYTHONPATH=%PYTHONPATH%;C:\My_python_lib C:\>python

These changes will apply to any further commands executed in that console, and will be inherited by any applications started from the console.

Including the variable name within percent signs will expand to the existing value, allowing you to add your new value at either the start or the end. Modifying PATH by adding the directory containing python.exe to the start is a common way to ensure the correct version of Python is launched.

To permanently modify the default environment variables, click Start and search for ‘edit environment variables’, or open System properties, Advanced system settings and click the Environment Variables button. In this dialog, you can add or modify User and System variables. To change System variables, you need non-restricted access to your machine (i.e. Administrator rights).

Windows will concatenate User variables after System variables, which may cause unexpected results when modifying PATH .

The PYTHONPATH variable is used by all versions of Python, so you should not permanently configure it unless the listed paths only include code that is compatible with all of your installed Python versions.

Overview of environment variables on Windows

The set command, for temporarily modifying environment variables

The setx command, for permanently modifying environment variables

4.6.2. Finding the Python executable¶

Changed in version 3.5.

Besides using the automatically created start menu entry for the Python interpreter, you might want to start Python in the command prompt. The installer has an option to set that up for you.

On the first page of the installer, an option labelled “Add Python to PATH” may be selected to have the installer add the install location into the PATH . The location of the Scripts\ folder is also added. This allows you to type python to run the interpreter, and pip for the package installer. Thus, you can also execute your scripts with command line options, see Command line documentation.

If you don’t enable this option at install time, you can always re-run the installer, select Modify, and enable it. Alternatively, you can manually modify the PATH using the directions in Excursus: Setting environment variables . You need to set your PATH environment variable to include the directory of your Python installation, delimited by a semicolon from other entries. An example variable could look like this (assuming the first two entries already existed):

C:\WINDOWS\system32;C:\WINDOWS;C:\Program Files\Python 3.9

4.7. UTF-8 mode¶

New in version 3.7.

Windows still uses legacy encodings for the system encoding (the ANSI Code Page). Python uses it for the default encoding of text files (e.g. locale.getencoding() ).

This may cause issues because UTF-8 is widely used on the internet and most Unix systems, including WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux).

You can use the Python UTF-8 Mode to change the default text encoding to UTF-8. You can enable the Python UTF-8 Mode via the -X utf8 command line option, or the PYTHONUTF8=1 environment variable. See PYTHONUTF8 for enabling UTF-8 mode, and Excursus: Setting environment variables for how to modify environment variables.

When the Python UTF-8 Mode is enabled, you can still use the system encoding (the ANSI Code Page) via the “mbcs” codec.

Note that adding PYTHONUTF8=1 to the default environment variables will affect all Python 3.7+ applications on your system. If you have any Python 3.7+ applications which rely on the legacy system encoding, it is recommended to set the environment variable temporarily or use the -X utf8 command line option.

Even when UTF-8 mode is disabled, Python uses UTF-8 by default on Windows for:

• Console I/O including standard I/O (see PEP 528 for details).
• The filesystem encoding (see PEP 529 for details).

4.8. Python Launcher for Windows¶

New in version 3.3.

The Python launcher for Windows is a utility which aids in locating and executing of different Python versions. It allows scripts (or the command-line) to indicate a preference for a specific Python version, and will locate and execute that version.

Unlike the PATH variable, the launcher will correctly select the most appropriate version of Python. It will prefer per-user installations over system-wide ones, and orders by language version rather than using the most recently installed version.

The launcher was originally specified in PEP 397.

4.8.1. Getting started¶

4.8.1.1. From the command-line¶

Changed in version 3.6.

System-wide installations of Python 3.3 and later will put the launcher on your PATH . The launcher is compatible with all available versions of Python, so it does not matter which version is installed. To check that the launcher is available, execute the following command in Command Prompt:

You should find that the latest version of Python you have installed is started — it can be exited as normal, and any additional command-line arguments specified will be sent directly to Python.

If you have multiple versions of Python installed (e.g., 3.7 and 3.12) you will have noticed that Python 3.12 was started — to launch Python 3.7, try the command:

py -3.7

If you want the latest version of Python 2 you have installed, try the command:

py -2

If you see the following error, you do not have the launcher installed:

'py' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.

py --list

displays the currently installed version(s) of Python.

The -x.y argument is the short form of the -V:Company/Tag argument, which allows selecting a specific Python runtime, including those that may have come from somewhere other than python.org. Any runtime registered by following PEP 514 will be discoverable. The —list command lists all available runtimes using the -V: format.

When using the -V: argument, specifying the Company will limit selection to runtimes from that provider, while specifying only the Tag will select from all providers. Note that omitting the slash implies a tag:

# Select any '3.*' tagged runtime py -V:3 # Select any 'PythonCore' released runtime py -V:PythonCore/ # Select PythonCore's latest Python 3 runtime py -V:PythonCore/3

The short form of the argument ( -3 ) only ever selects from core Python releases, and not other distributions. However, the longer form ( -V:3 ) will select from any.

The Company is matched on the full string, case-insenitive. The Tag is matched oneither the full string, or a prefix, provided the next character is a dot or a hyphen. This allows -V:3.1 to match 3.1-32 , but not 3.10 . Tags are sorted using numerical ordering ( 3.10 is newer than 3.1 ), but are compared using text ( -V:3.01 does not match 3.1 ).

4.8.1.2. Virtual environments¶

New in version 3.5.

If the launcher is run with no explicit Python version specification, and a virtual environment (created with the standard library venv module or the external virtualenv tool) active, the launcher will run the virtual environment’s interpreter rather than the global one. To run the global interpreter, either deactivate the virtual environment, or explicitly specify the global Python version.

4.8.1.3. From a script¶

Let’s create a test Python script — create a file called hello.py with the following contents

#! python import sys sys.stdout.write("hello from Python %s\n" % (sys.version,)) 

From the directory in which hello.py lives, execute the command:

py hello.py

You should notice the version number of your latest Python 2.x installation is printed. Now try changing the first line to be:

#! python3 

Re-executing the command should now print the latest Python 3.x information. As with the above command-line examples, you can specify a more explicit version qualifier. Assuming you have Python 3.7 installed, try changing the first line to #! python3.7 and you should find the 3.7 version information printed.

Note that unlike interactive use, a bare “python” will use the latest version of Python 2.x that you have installed. This is for backward compatibility and for compatibility with Unix, where the command python typically refers to Python 2.

4.8.1.4. From file associations¶

The launcher should have been associated with Python files (i.e. .py , .pyw , .pyc files) when it was installed. This means that when you double-click on one of these files from Windows explorer the launcher will be used, and therefore you can use the same facilities described above to have the script specify the version which should be used.

The key benefit of this is that a single launcher can support multiple Python versions at the same time depending on the contents of the first line.

4.8.2. Shebang Lines¶

If the first line of a script file starts with #! , it is known as a “shebang” line. Linux and other Unix like operating systems have native support for such lines and they are commonly used on such systems to indicate how a script should be executed. This launcher allows the same facilities to be used with Python scripts on Windows and the examples above demonstrate their use.

To allow shebang lines in Python scripts to be portable between Unix and Windows, this launcher supports a number of ‘virtual’ commands to specify which interpreter to use. The supported virtual commands are:

• /usr/bin/env
• /usr/bin/python
• /usr/local/bin/python
• python

For example, if the first line of your script starts with

#! /usr/bin/python 

The default Python will be located and used. As many Python scripts written to work on Unix will already have this line, you should find these scripts can be used by the launcher without modification. If you are writing a new script on Windows which you hope will be useful on Unix, you should use one of the shebang lines starting with /usr .

Any of the above virtual commands can be suffixed with an explicit version (either just the major version, or the major and minor version). Furthermore the 32-bit version can be requested by adding “-32” after the minor version. I.e. /usr/bin/python3.7-32 will request usage of the 32-bit python 3.7.

New in version 3.7: Beginning with python launcher 3.7 it is possible to request 64-bit version by the “-64” suffix. Furthermore it is possible to specify a major and architecture without minor (i.e. /usr/bin/python3-64 ).

Changed in version 3.11: The “-64” suffix is deprecated, and now implies “any architecture that is not provably i386/32-bit”. To request a specific environment, use the new -V: TAG argument with the complete tag.

The /usr/bin/env form of shebang line has one further special property. Before looking for installed Python interpreters, this form will search the executable PATH for a Python executable matching the name provided as the first argument. This corresponds to the behaviour of the Unix env program, which performs a PATH search. If an executable matching the first argument after the env command cannot be found, but the argument starts with python , it will be handled as described for the other virtual commands. The environment variable PYLAUNCHER_NO_SEARCH_PATH may be set (to any value) to skip this search of PATH .

Shebang lines that do not match any of these patterns are looked up in the [commands] section of the launcher’s .INI file . This may be used to handle certain commands in a way that makes sense for your system. The name of the command must be a single argument (no spaces in the shebang executable), and the value substituted is the full path to the executable (additional arguments specified in the .INI will be quoted as part of the filename).

[commands] /bin/xpython=C:\Program Files\XPython\python.exe 

Any commands not found in the .INI file are treated as Windows executable paths that are absolute or relative to the directory containing the script file. This is a convenience for Windows-only scripts, such as those generated by an installer, since the behavior is not compatible with Unix-style shells. These paths may be quoted, and may include multiple arguments, after which the path to the script and any additional arguments will be appended.

4.8.3. Arguments in shebang lines¶

The shebang lines can also specify additional options to be passed to the Python interpreter. For example, if you have a shebang line:

#! /usr/bin/python -v 

Then Python will be started with the -v option

4.8.4. Customization¶

4.8.4.1. Customization via INI files¶

Two .ini files will be searched by the launcher — py.ini in the current user’s application data directory ( %LOCALAPPDATA% or $env:LocalAppData ) and py.ini in the same directory as the launcher. The same .ini files are used for both the ‘console’ version of the launcher (i.e. py.exe) and for the ‘windows’ version (i.e. pyw.exe).

Customization specified in the “application directory” will have precedence over the one next to the executable, so a user, who may not have write access to the .ini file next to the launcher, can override commands in that global .ini file.

4.8.4.2. Customizing default Python versions¶

In some cases, a version qualifier can be included in a command to dictate which version of Python will be used by the command. A version qualifier starts with a major version number and can optionally be followed by a period (‘.’) and a minor version specifier. Furthermore it is possible to specify if a 32 or 64 bit implementation shall be requested by adding “-32” or “-64”.

For example, a shebang line of #!python has no version qualifier, while #!python3 has a version qualifier which specifies only a major version.

If no version qualifiers are found in a command, the environment variable PY_PYTHON can be set to specify the default version qualifier. If it is not set, the default is “3”. The variable can specify any value that may be passed on the command line, such as “3”, “3.7”, “3.7-32” or “3.7-64”. (Note that the “-64” option is only available with the launcher included with Python 3.7 or newer.)

If no minor version qualifiers are found, the environment variable PY_PYTHON (where is the current major version qualifier as determined above) can be set to specify the full version. If no such option is found, the launcher will enumerate the installed Python versions and use the latest minor release found for the major version, which is likely, although not guaranteed, to be the most recently installed version in that family.

On 64-bit Windows with both 32-bit and 64-bit implementations of the same (major.minor) Python version installed, the 64-bit version will always be preferred. This will be true for both 32-bit and 64-bit implementations of the launcher — a 32-bit launcher will prefer to execute a 64-bit Python installation of the specified version if available. This is so the behavior of the launcher can be predicted knowing only what versions are installed on the PC and without regard to the order in which they were installed (i.e., without knowing whether a 32 or 64-bit version of Python and corresponding launcher was installed last). As noted above, an optional “-32” or “-64” suffix can be used on a version specifier to change this behaviour.

• If no relevant options are set, the commands python and python2 will use the latest Python 2.x version installed and the command python3 will use the latest Python 3.x installed.
• The command python3.7 will not consult any options at all as the versions are fully specified.
• If PY_PYTHON=3 , the commands python and python3 will both use the latest installed Python 3 version.
• If PY_PYTHON=3.7-32 , the command python will use the 32-bit implementation of 3.7 whereas the command python3 will use the latest installed Python (PY_PYTHON was not considered at all as a major version was specified.)
• If PY_PYTHON=3 and PY_PYTHON3=3.7 , the commands python and python3 will both use specifically 3.7

In addition to environment variables, the same settings can be configured in the .INI file used by the launcher. The section in the INI file is called [defaults] and the key name will be the same as the environment variables without the leading PY_ prefix (and note that the key names in the INI file are case insensitive.) The contents of an environment variable will override things specified in the INI file.

• Setting PY_PYTHON=3.7 is equivalent to the INI file containing:

[defaults] python=3.7 

• Setting PY_PYTHON=3 and PY_PYTHON3=3.7 is equivalent to the INI file containing:

[defaults] python=3 python3=3.7 

4.8.5. Diagnostics¶

If an environment variable PYLAUNCHER_DEBUG is set (to any value), the launcher will print diagnostic information to stderr (i.e. to the console). While this information manages to be simultaneously verbose and terse, it should allow you to see what versions of Python were located, why a particular version was chosen and the exact command-line used to execute the target Python. It is primarily intended for testing and debugging.

4.8.6. Dry Run¶

If an environment variable PYLAUNCHER_DRYRUN is set (to any value), the launcher will output the command it would have run, but will not actually launch Python. This may be useful for tools that want to use the launcher to detect and then launch Python directly. Note that the command written to standard output is always encoded using UTF-8, and may not render correctly in the console.

4.8.7. Install on demand¶

If an environment variable PYLAUNCHER_ALLOW_INSTALL is set (to any value), and the requested Python version is not installed but is available on the Microsoft Store, the launcher will attempt to install it. This may require user interaction to complete, and you may need to run the command again.

An additional PYLAUNCHER_ALWAYS_INSTALL variable causes the launcher to always try to install Python, even if it is detected. This is mainly intended for testing (and should be used with PYLAUNCHER_DRYRUN ).

4.8.8. Return codes¶

The following exit codes may be returned by the Python launcher. Unfortunately, there is no way to distinguish these from the exit code of Python itself.

The names of codes are as used in the sources, and are only for reference. There is no way to access or resolve them apart from reading this page. Entries are listed in alphabetical order of names.

Как обновить все пакеты Python установленные с pip

Пакет pip — это программа для установки и управления пакетами Python. Сам пакет pip в репозитории вашего дистрибутива существует в двух версиях:

• для Python 3 (называется python3-pip или python-pip в зависимости от того, какая версия Python является версией по умолчанию для вашего дистрибутива)
• для Python 2 (называется python2-pip или python-pip в зависимости от того, какая версия Python является версией по умолчанию для вашего дистрибутива)

С помощью pip можно устанавливать пакеты Python. Это вносит некоторую путаницу, поскольку эти же самые пакеты можно устанавливать из стандартного репозитория вашего дистрибутива. Но в репозитории имеются далеко не все пакеты Python — только те, которые сопроводители дистрибутива упаковали в установочный пакет этого дистрибутива. Следовательно, через pip можно установить намного больше разных пакетов Python (если они вам нужны).

Как обновить пакеты с pip

Но использование pip имеет свои неудобства — программа не отслеживает выход новых версий и не выполняет их автоматическое обновление.

Поэтому пакеты нужно обновлять вручную и по одному следующими командами:

sudo pip install [имя_пакета] --upgrade

Или более короткий вариант:

sudo pip install [имя_пакета] -U

Проблема здесь в том, чтобы узнать вышла ли уже новая версия пакета?

По этой причине лично я стараюсь устанавливать пакеты Python из стандартного репозитория, поскольку в этом случае они обновляются автоматически при обновлении других пакетов системы. И только если их там нет, то я использую для установки pip.

Как с pip показать пакеты, для которых вышли новые версии

С помощью pip можно проверить выход новых версий. К счастью, это для этого не нужно вводить имя каждого пакета по отдельности.

Следующая команда проверяет наличие новых версий для каждого установленного пакета и выведет только те из них, для которых вышли обновления:

pip list -o

Вариант для Python3:

pip3 list -o

Вариант для Python2:

pip2 list -o

Программа проверяет версии для всех пакетов Python. Обычно их довольно много, поэтому программа может работать довольно долго — несколько минут.

Как в pip обновить сразу все пакеты

Можно посмотреть список устаревших пакетов и потом по одному обновлять их командой, которая дана ещё чуть выше. Но это можно сделать проще.

Следующая большая команда найдёт список всех устаревших пакетов Python и обновит их:

for i in $(pip list -o | awk 'NR > 2 '); do sudo pip install -U $i; done

В сердце этой команды лежит предыдущая медленная команда pip list -o, поэтому выполнение займёт определённое время.

Если вы учитесь программировать на Python3, то вашему сердцу может быть ближе следующий вариант. Создайте файл с именем xx.py и скопируйте в него:

import subprocess as sbp import pip pkgs = eval(str(sbp.run("pip3 list -o --format=json", shell=True, stdout=sbp.PIPE).stdout, encoding='utf-8')) for pkg in pkgs: sbp.run("pip3 install --upgrade " + pkg['name'], shell=True)

Сохраните и закройте этот файл. Когда вы захотите обновить ваши пакеты Python, то запустите этот скрипт следующим образом:

sudo python3 xx.py

Есть ещё парочка способов выполнить полное обновление системы, пример команды:

sudo pip install -U $(pip freeze | awk '')

Её принцип заключается в том, что она составляет список всех пакетов Python, а затем каждый из них пытается обновить. Если обновления нет — то ничего страшного, просто происходит переход к следующему пакету из списка. Если обновление есть, то оно устанавливается и вновь происходит переход к следующему пакету из списка, пока программа полностью не завершит свою работу.

Конечный результат такой же — будут обновлены все пакеты Python.

У предыдущей команды есть ещё один вариант:

sudo pip install -U $(pip freeze | cut -d '=' -f 1)

Принцип работы абсолютно такой же.

Заключение

pip обновляет пакеты только одной версии Python — то есть для Python3 или для Python2 — это зависит от того, какая версия Python является версией по умолчанию для вашего дистрибутива.

Если вы также хотите обновить пакеты для другой версии, то в предыдущих командах везде заменяйте pip на pip2 или pip3 — в зависимости от вашего дистрибутива.

Или вот вариант ещё проще, следующие команды одинаково сработают абсолютно в любых дистрибутивах, так как в них версии указаны явно (при условии, что pip2 и pip3 установлены в вашей системе).

Для обновления всех пакетов Python3:

for i in $(pip3 list -o | awk 'NR > 2 '); do sudo pip3 install -U $i; done

Для обновления всех пакетов Python2:

for i in $(pip2 list -o | awk 'NR > 3 '); do sudo pip2 install -U $i; done

При обновлении пакетов могут возникать различные ошибки и предупреждения, которые требуют индивидуального подхода. Например, если ошибка в отсутствующей зависимости, то установите необходимую зависимость для обновлённого пакета.

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