How to Check Latest Version of Python Package?

Recently, for pip >= 21.2 the syntax pip install pandas== does not work anymore. There are several methods to get this information in a different way.

Use pip

There is a new experimental command:

pip index versions <package_name>

This command shows all available versions, with the latest at the top.

Use PyPI API and jq

Alternatively you can use PyPI API with curl and jq:

curl -s https://pypi.org/pypi/<package_name>/json | jq -r '.info.version'

This retrieves the latest version directly from PyPI.

curl -s https://pypi.org/pypi/<package_name>/json | jq -r 'releases | keys'

For convenience, you can use a shell function. Here's how you can do it:

1. Open your shell configuration file (e.g., ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc) in a text editor.
2. Add the following function(s):

# display the latests version
pyversion() {
    curl -s "https://pypi.org/pypi/$1/json" | jq -r '.info.version'
}

# display all versions
py-all-versions() {
    curl -s "https://pypi.org/pypi/$1/json" | jq -r 'releases | keys'
}

NOTE: using PyPI API + jq is significantly faster than using pip index versions. using pypi API took ~0.4 s while pip index version took ~2 s.

Using the yolk package:

First, install yolk3k:

pip install yolk3k

Then run:

yolk -V <package_name>