In this article, I’ll show you how to check the version of the openai library for Python. I needed this in my own project as OpenAI raised an error due to an old package version.
These are the seven best ways to check the version of a Python module:
- Method 1:
pip show openai - Method 2:
pip list - Method 3:
pip list | findstr openai - Method 4:
importlib.metadata.version('openai') - Method 5:
conda list - Method 6:
pip freeze - Method 7:
pip freeze | grep openai
Let’s dive into some examples for each of those next!
Method 1: pip show
To check which version of openai is installed, run pip show openai or pip3 show openai in your CMD/Powershell (Windows) or terminal (macOS/Linux/Ubuntu).
This will work if your pip installation is version 1.3 or higher—which is likely to hold in your case because pip 1.3 was released a decade ago, in 2013!!
Here’s an example in my Windows Powershell for OpenAI: I’ve highlighted the line that shows that my package version is 1.21.0:
C:\Users\xcent>pip show openai Name: openai Version: 0.27.0 Summary: Python client library for the OpenAI API Home-page: https://github.com/openai/openai-python Author: OpenAI Author-email: support@openai.com License: Location: c:\users\xcent\appdata\local\programs\python\python310\lib\site-packages Requires: aiohttp, requests, tqdm Required-by:
In some instances, this will not work—depending on your environment. In this case, try those commands before giving up:
python -m pip show openai python3 -m pip show openai py -m pip show openai pip3 show openai
Method 2: pip list
To check the versions of all installed packages, use pip list and locate the version of openai in the output list of package versions sorted alphabetically.
This will work if your pip installation is version 1.3 or higher.
Here’s an example in my Windows Powershell, I’ve highlighted the line that shows that my package version is 0.27.0:
C:\Users\xcent>pip list Package Version ------------------ --------- aiohttp 3.8.4 aiosignal 1.3.1 asn1crypto 1.5.1 async-timeout 4.0.2 attrs 22.2.0 certifi 2022.12.7 charset-normalizer 3.1.0 colorama 0.4.6 et-xmlfile 1.1.0 Faker 15.3.2 frozenlist 1.3.3 idna 3.4 memory-profiler 0.61.0 multidict 6.0.4 numpy 1.23.4 openai 0.27.0 openpyxl 3.0.10 pandas 1.5.1 pip 23.0.1 psutil 5.9.4 python-dateutil 2.8.2 pytz 2022.6 requests 2.28.2 setuptools 63.2.0 six 1.16.0 tqdm 4.65.0 urllib3 1.26.14 yarl 1.8.2
In some instances, this will not work—depending on your environment. Then try those commands before giving up:
python -m pip list python3 -m pip list py -m pip list pip3 list
Method 3: pip list + findstr on Windows
To check the versions of openai on Windows, you can chain pip list with findstr openai using the CMD or Powershell command: pip list | findstr openai to locate the version of OpenAI in the output list of package versions automatically.
Here’s an example for openai:
C:\Users\xcent>pip list | findstr openai openai 0.27.0
Method 4: importlib.metadata.version
The importlib.metadata library provides a general way to check the package version in your Python script via importlib.metadata.version('openai') for library openai. This returns a string representation of the specific version such as '0.27.0'.
Here’s the code:
import importlib.metadata
print(importlib.metadata.version('openai'))
# 0.27.0
Method 5: conda list
If you have created your Python environment with Anaconda, you can use conda list to list all packages installed in your (virtual) environment. Optionally, you can add a regular expression using the syntax conda list regex to list only packages matching a certain pattern.
How to list all packages in the current environment?
conda list
How to list all packages installed into the environment 'openai'?
conda list -n openai
Regex: How to list all packages starting with 'openai'?
conda list '^openai'
Method 6: pip freeze
The pip freeze command without any option lists all installed Python packages in your environment in alphabetical order (ignoring UPPERCASE or lowercase). You can spot your specific package if it is installed in the environment.
pip freeze
Output on my local Windows environment:
C:\Users\xcent>pip freeze aiohttp==3.8.4 aiosignal==1.3.1 asn1crypto==1.5.1 async-timeout==4.0.2 attrs==22.2.0 certifi==2022.12.7 charset-normalizer==3.1.0 colorama==0.4.6 et-xmlfile==1.1.0 Faker==15.3.2 frozenlist==1.3.3 idna==3.4 memory-profiler==0.61.0 multidict==6.0.4 numpy==1.23.4 openai==0.27.0 openpyxl==3.0.10 pandas==1.5.1 psutil==5.9.4 python-dateutil==2.8.2 pytz==2022.6 requests==2.28.2 six==1.16.0 tqdm==4.65.0 urllib3==1.26.14 yarl==1.8.2
For example, I have the Python package openai installed with version 0.27.0.
You can modify or exclude specific packages using the options provided in this screenshot:
Method 7: pip freeze + grep on Linux/Ubuntu/macOS
To check the versions of a single package on Linux/Ubuntu/macOS, you can chain pip freeze with grep openai using the CMD or Powershell command: pip freeze | grep openai to programmatically locate the version of your particular package openai in the output list of package versions.
Here’s an example for openai:
pip freeze | grep openai openai==0.27.0
Related Questions
How to Check OpenAI Version in Python?
To check which version of OpenAI is installed, use pip show openai in your CMD/Powershell (Windows), or terminal (macOS/Linux/Ubuntu).
pip show openai
Linux – How to Check OpenAI Version in Python?
To check which version of OpenAI is installed, use pip show openai in your Linux terminal.
pip show openai
Ubuntu – How to Check OpenAI Version in Python?
To check which version of OpenAI is installed, use pip show openai in your Ubuntu terminal/shall/bash.
pip show openai
Windows – How to Check OpenAI Version in Python?
To check which version of OpenAI is installed, use pip show openai in your Windows CMD, command line, or PowerShell.
pip show openai
MacOS – How to Check OpenAI Version in Python?
To check which version of OpenAI is installed, use pip show openai in your macOS terminal.
pip show openai
Jupyter Notebook – How to Check OpenAI Version in Python?
To check which version of OpenAI is installed, add the line !pip show openai to your notebook cell where you want to check. Notice the exclamation mark prefix ! that allows you to run commands in your Python script cell.
!pip show openai
For example, this is a screenshot of how this looks for OpenAI in a Jupyter Notebook:
After installing it with pip install openai, it looks like this:
Terminal – How to Check OpenAI Version in Python?
To check which version of a given Python package is installed, use pip show openai in your terminal.
pip show openai
Conda/Anaconda – How to Check OpenAI Version in Python?
Use conda list 'openai' to list version information about the openai module installed in your (virtual) environment.
conda list 'openai'
How to Check OpenAI Version with PIP?
You can use multiple commands to check the package version with PIP such as pip show openai, pip list, pip freeze, and pip list.
pip show openai pip list pip freeze pip list
How to Check OpenAI Version in VSCode or PyCharm?
Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) such as VSCode or PyCharm provide a built-in terminal where you can run pip show openai to check the current version of openai in the specific environment you’re running the command in.
pip show my_package pip list pip freeze
You can type any of those commands in your IDE terminal like so:
Where to Go Next 👇
In this article, you’ve learned the best ways to check the OpenAI Python package version. Thanks for giving us your valued attention — we’re grateful to have you here! 🙂
If you want to keep learning and improving your Python and OpenAI skills, check out our free cheat sheets!
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