10 Essential pip Tricks Every Python Developer Should Know

As everyone knows, pip can install, update, and uninstall third‑party Python libraries conveniently. Many have used pip for a long time but may not know its useful features. This article shares ten practical pip tips to help you get more out of Python pip.

Python pip

Python is popular not only because it is easy to learn but also because it has thousands of libraries. These libraries act as ready‑made tools that can be used once installed, handling a wide range of problems without reinventing the wheel, and many have become powerful enough for enterprise‑grade applications.

These tools are stored in a unified repository called PyPI (Python Package Index). pip serves as the manager that retrieves libraries from PyPI and installs them into your Python environment, and it can also manage installed packages—updating, searching, and uninstalling them.

Below are ten common pip tips and tricks for reference.

1. Install pip

Since Python 3.4, pip is bundled with Python, so no separate installation is needed.

If your Python version lacks pip, you can install it via two methods:

Run easy_install pip from the command line.

Download the pip installer from the official site, extract it to your Python scripts directory, and execute python setup.py install.

pip download page: https://pypi.org/project/pip/#files

For Python 3.4 or earlier, upgrade to the latest stable Python version: https://www.python.org/downloads/.

2. Upgrade pip

If your pip version is outdated, upgrade it with:

$ pip install -U pip

3. Install packages

Install a third‑party library with:

pip install package_name

Specify a version:

pip install package_name==1.1.2

Example: install matplotlib version 3.4.1:

pip install matplotlib==3.4.1

4. Batch install packages

Install many libraries at once using a requirements file:

pip install -r requirements.txt

Example requirements file content:

# This is a comment
# Specify a different index
-i http://dist.repoze.org/zope2/2.10/simple
# Package with versions
tensorflow==2.3.1
uvicorn==0.12.2
fastapi==0.63.0
pkg1
pkg2
pkg3>=1.0,<=2.0
# Local distribution path
./downloads/numpy-1.9.2-cp34-none-win32.whl
# Include other requirement files
-r other-requirements.txt
-c constraints.txt
# Plain package names
pytest
pytest-cov
beautifulsoup4

5. Uninstall and upgrade packages

Uninstall an installed library:

pip uninstall package_name

Upgrade a package:

pip install --upgrade package_name

or

pip install -U package_name

6. Freeze pip dependencies

List all installed packages or generate a requirements file:

# List packages
$ pip freeze

To output to a file:

$ pip freeze > requirements.txt

Use -l/--local to list only non‑global packages.

7. Show package information

Display detailed info for a package:

$ pip show -f pyyaml
Name: PyYAML
Version: 5.4.1
Summary: YAML parser and emitter for Python
Home-page: https://pyyaml.org/
Author: Kirill Simonov
License: MIT
Location: /private/tmp/test/lib/python3.8/site-packages
Required-by: awscli

8. List outdated packages

Find packages that have newer versions available:

$ pip list -o
Package    Version Latest Type
---------- ------- ------ -----
docutils   0.15.2  0.18.1 wheel
PyYAML     5.4.1   6.0    wheel
rsa        4.7.2   4.8    wheel
setuptools 56.0.0 62.1.0 wheel

9. Check compatibility issues

Verify dependency compatibility for a specific package or all packages:

$ pip check awscli
No broken requirements found.

Without specifying a package name:

$ pip check
pyramid 1.5.2 requires WebOb, which is not installed.

10. Download packages locally

Download a package to a specific directory in wheel format:

$ pip download PyYAML -d "/tmp/"
Looking in indexes: https://pypi.python.org/simple
Collecting PyYAML
  Downloading PyYAML-6.0-cp38-cp38-macosx_10_9_x86_64.whl (192 kB)
Saved ./PyYAML-6.0-cp38-cp38-macosx_10_9_x86_64.whl
Successfully downloaded PyYAML
$ ls /tmp/PyYAML-6.0-cp38-cp38-macosx_10_9_x86_64.whl
/tmp/PyYAML-6.0-cp38-cp38-macosx_10_9_x86_64.whl