pip (package manager)

pip
Stable release 6.0.8 / 5 February 2015
Written in Python
Operating system Cross-platform
Type Package management system
Website www.pip-installer.org

pip is a package management system used to install and manage software packages written in Python. Many packages can be found in the Python Package Index (PyPI).[1]

Python 2.7.9 and later (on the python2 series), and Python 3.4 and later include pip by default.[2]

pip is a recursive acronym that can stand for either "Pip Installs Packages" or "Pip Installs Python".[3][4]

Command-line interface

One major advantage of pip is the ease of its command-line interface, which makes installing Python software packages as easy as issuing one command:

pip install some-package-name

Users can also easily implement the package's subsequent removal:

pip uninstall some-package-name

Most importantly pip has a feature to manage full lists of packages and corresponding version numbers, possible through a "requirements" file.[1] This permits the efficient re-creation of an entire group of packages in a separate environment (e.g. another computer) or virtual environment. This can be achieved with a properly formatted requirements.txt file and the following command:

pip install -r requirements.txt

Install some package for a specific version python, where [version] is replaced for 2, 3, 3.4, etc:

pip[version] install some-package-name

Web hosting service use

Pip is used to support the use of Python in cloud web hosting, such as by Heroku.[5]

See also

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 "pip documentation". The pip developers. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
  2. "pip installation". Retrieved 24 Feb 2015.
  3. "pip - ubuntuusers.de". ubuntuusers.de. Retrieved 17 February 2015.
  4. "What Does PIP Stand For?". Stack Exchange. Retrieved 17 February 2015.
  5. "Getting Started with Python on Heroku/Cedar". Dev Center. Heroku. Retrieved 5 January 2012.