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How does the Python interpreter know what distribution it is in? [duplicate]

How do I check which version of the Python interpreter is running my script?

This information is available in the sys.version string in the sys module:
>>> import sys
Human readable:
>>> print(sys.version) # parentheses necessary in python 3.
2.5.2 (r252:60911, Jul 31 2008, 17:28:52)
[GCC 4.2.3 (Ubuntu 4.2.3-2ubuntu7)]
For further processing, use sys.version_info or sys.hexversion:
>>> sys.version_info
(2, 5, 2, 'final', 0)
# or
>>> sys.hexversion
34014192
To ensure a script runs with a minimal version requirement of the Python interpreter add this to your code:
assert sys.version_info >= (2, 5)
This compares major and minor version information. Add micro (=0, 1, etc) and even releaselevel (='alpha','final', etc) to the tuple as you like. Note however, that it is almost always better to "duck" check if a certain feature is there, and if not, workaround (or bail out). Sometimes features go away in newer releases, being replaced by others.

From the command line (note the capital 'V'):
python -V
This is documented in 'man python'.
From IPython console
!python -V

Use platform's python_version from the stdlib:
from platform import python_version
print(python_version())
# 3.9.2

I like sys.hexversion for stuff like this.
>>> import sys
>>> sys.hexversion
33883376
>>> '%x' % sys.hexversion
'20504f0'
>>> sys.hexversion < 0x02060000
True

Your best bet is probably something like so:
>>> import sys
>>> sys.version_info
(2, 6, 4, 'final', 0)
>>> if not sys.version_info[:2] == (2, 6):
... print "Error, I need python 2.6"
... else:
... from my_module import twoPointSixCode
>>>
Additionally, you can always wrap your imports in a simple try, which should catch syntax errors. And, to #Heikki's point, this code will be compatible with much older versions of python:
>>> try:
... from my_module import twoPointSixCode
... except Exception:
... print "can't import, probably because your python is too old!"
>>>

Put something like:
#!/usr/bin/env/python
import sys
if sys.version_info<(2,6,0):
sys.stderr.write("You need python 2.6 or later to run this script\n")
exit(1)
at the top of your script.
Note that depending on what else is in your script, older versions of python than the target may not be able to even load the script, so won't get far enough to report this error. As a workaround, you can run the above in a script that imports the script with the more modern code.

Here's a short commandline version which exits straight away (handy for scripts and automated execution):
python -c "print(__import__('sys').version)"
Or just the major, minor and micro:
python -c "print(__import__('sys').version_info[:1])" # (2,)
python -c "print(__import__('sys').version_info[:2])" # (2, 7)
python -c "print(__import__('sys').version_info[:3])" # (2, 7, 6)

With six module, you can do it by:
import six
if six.PY2:
# this is python2.x
else:
# six.PY3
# this is python3.x

import sys
sys.version.split(' ')[0]
sys.version gives you what you want, just pick the first number :)

Like Seth said, the main script could check sys.version_info (but note that that didn't appear until 2.0, so if you want to support older versions you would need to check another version property of the sys module).
But you still need to take care of not using any Python language features in the file that are not available in older Python versions. For example, this is allowed in Python 2.5 and later:
try:
pass
except:
pass
finally:
pass
but won't work in older Python versions, because you could only have except OR finally match the try. So for compatibility with older Python versions you need to write:
try:
try:
pass
except:
pass
finally:
pass

Several answers already suggest how to query the current python version. To check programmatically the version requirements, I'd make use of one of the following two methods:
# Method 1: (see krawyoti's answer)
import sys
assert(sys.version_info >= (2,6))
# Method 2:
import platform
from distutils.version import StrictVersion
assert(StrictVersion(platform.python_version()) >= "2.6")

Just for fun, the following is a way of doing it on CPython 1.0-3.7b2, Pypy, Jython and Micropython. This is more of a curiosity than a way of doing it in modern code. I wrote it as part of http://stromberg.dnsalias.org/~strombrg/pythons/ , which is a script for testing a snippet of code on many versions of python at once, so you can easily get a feel for what python features are compatible with what versions of python:
via_platform = 0
check_sys = 0
via_sys_version_info = 0
via_sys_version = 0
test_sys = 0
try:
import platform
except (ImportError, NameError):
# We have no platform module - try to get the info via the sys module
check_sys = 1
if not check_sys:
if hasattr(platform, "python_version"):
via_platform = 1
else:
check_sys = 1
if check_sys:
try:
import sys
test_sys = 1
except (ImportError, NameError):
# just let via_sys_version_info and via_sys_version remain False - we have no sys module
pass
if test_sys:
if hasattr(sys, "version_info"):
via_sys_version_info = 1
elif hasattr(sys, "version"):
via_sys_version = 1
else:
# just let via_sys remain False
pass
if via_platform:
# This gives pretty good info, but is not available in older interpreters. Also, micropython has a
# platform module that does not really contain anything.
print(platform.python_version())
elif via_sys_version_info:
# This is compatible with some older interpreters, but does not give quite as much info.
print("%s.%s.%s" % sys.version_info[:3])
elif via_sys_version:
import string
# This is compatible with some older interpreters, but does not give quite as much info.
verbose_version = sys.version
version_list = string.split(verbose_version)
print(version_list[0])
else:
print("unknown")

If you want to detect pre-Python 3 and don't want to import anything...
...you can (ab)use list comprehension scoping changes and do it in a single expression:
is_python_3_or_above = (lambda x: [x for x in [False]] and None or x)(True)

from sys import version_info, api_version, version, hexversion
print(f"sys.version: {version}")
print(f"sys.api_version: {api_version}")
print(f"sys.version_info: {version_info}")
print(f"sys.hexversion: {hexversion}")
output
sys.version: 3.6.5 (v3.6.5:f59c0932b4, Mar 28 2018, 17:00:18) [MSC v.1900 64 bit (AMD64)]
sys.api_version: 1013
sys.version_info: sys.version_info(major=3, minor=6, micro=5, releaselevel='final', serial=0)
sys.hexversion: 50726384

The simplest way
Just type python in your terminal and you can see the version
as like following
desktop:~$ python
Python 2.7.6 (default, Jun 22 2015, 18:00:18)
[GCC 4.8.2] on linux2
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>>

sys.version_info doesn't seem to return a tuple as of 3.7. Rather, it returns a special class, so all of the examples using tuples don't work, for me at least. Here's the output from a python console:
>>> import sys
>>> type(sys.version_info)
<class 'sys.version_info'>
I've found that using a combination of sys.version_info.major and sys.version_info.minor seems to suffice. For example,...
import sys
if sys.version_info.major > 3:
print('Upgrade to Python 3')
exit(1)
checks if you're running Python 3. You can even check for more specific versions with...
import sys
ver = sys.version_info
if ver.major > 2:
if ver.major == 3 and ver.minor <= 4:
print('Upgrade to Python 3.5')
exit(1)
can check to see if you're running at least Python 3.5.

Check Python version: python -V or python --version or apt-cache policy python
you can also run whereis python to see how many versions are installed.

To verify the Python version for commands on Windows, run the following commands in a command prompt and verify the output
c:\>python -V
Python 2.7.16
c:\>py -2 -V
Python 2.7.16
c:\>py -3 -V
Python 3.7.3
Also, To see the folder configuration for each Python version, run the following commands:
For Python 2,'py -2 -m site'
For Python 3,'py -3 -m site'

This just returns 2.7, 3.6 or 3.9
import sys
current_version = ".".join(map(str, sys.version_info[0:2]))
which is what you usually you need...

The even simpler simplest way:
In Spyder, start a new "IPython Console", then run any of your existing scripts.
Now the version can be seen in the first output printed in the console window:
"Python 3.7.3 (default, Apr 24 2019, 15:29:51)..."

To check from the command-line, in one single command, but include major, minor, micro version, releaselevel and serial, then invoke the same Python interpreter (i.e. same path) as you're using for your script:
> path/to/your/python -c "import sys; print('{}.{}.{}-{}-{}'.format(*sys.version_info))"
3.7.6-final-0
Note: .format() instead of f-strings or '.'.join() allows you to use arbitrary formatting and separator chars, e.g. to make this a greppable one-word string. I put this inside a bash utility script that reports all important versions: python, numpy, pandas, sklearn, MacOS, xcode, clang, brew, conda, anaconda, gcc/g++ etc. Useful for logging, replicability, troubleshootingm bug-reporting etc.

all answers has great insights
another way is platform.python_version_tuple()
python3 -c “import platform; print(platform.python_version_tuple())”
(‘3’, ‘6’, ‘8’)

if you want to check the python version for at least condition (e.g., python 3.9.0):
import platform
python_version_tuple = list(map(int, platform.python_version_tuple()))
if python_version_tuple >= [3, 9, 0]:
# Running at least Python 3.9.0
else:
# Running Python below 3.9.0

If you are working on linux just give command python output will be like this
Python 2.4.3 (#1, Jun 11 2009, 14:09:37)
[GCC 4.1.2 20080704 (Red Hat 4.1.2-44)] on linux2
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more
information.

For windows, Go to command prompt and type this command to get the python version:
python --version
Or
python -V

A attempt using os.popen to read it in a variable:
import os
ver = os.popen('python -V').read().strip()
print(ver)

Can't import the cx_Oracle module unless I'm using an interactive shell

When using Python on an interactive shell I'm able to import the cx_Oracle file with no problem. Ex:
me#server~/ $ python
Python 2.7.6 (default, Mar 22 2014, 22:59:56)
[GCC 4.8.2] on linux2
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import cx_Oracle
>>>
As you can see, importing works without a hitch. However, when I try to run a Python script doing the same thing, I get an error:
me#server~/ $ sudo script.py
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/local/bin/script.py", line 19, in <module>
import cx_Oracle
ImportError: No module named "cx_Oracle'
Here is the important section from script.py:
# 16 other lines above here
# Imports
import sys
import cx_Oracle
import psycopg2
...
I'm befuddled here. Other pertinent information is the server I'm running is Ubuntu 14.04.1 LTS (upgraded from 12.04) 64bit. which python and sudo which python both point to the same location. Also, doing this as root via sudo su - gets the same results; import OK from interactive but error from script.
Nothing other than the OS upgrade happened between when this worked and when it stopped working.

Sorry, all. This was a silly on my part. Turns out the script in question was using Python3, and when the server upgraded, Python3 went from being 3.2 version to being 3.4 version.
Once the cx_Oracle module was set up in the 3.4 version, everything worked as expected.
Phil, your final note talking about the shebang was what lead me to discover this, so kudos to you! The reason I didn't mark your response as the answer was because technically it wasn't but led me on the right path.
Cheers!

sudo starts a new bash environment which is then pointing to a different python executable (different installed modules).
You can verify this with which python and sudo which python
EDIT: so if they point to the same executable, then you should look at sys.path to find differences. In both environemnts you can:
python -c "import sys; print('\n'.join(sys.path))"
sudo python -c "import sys; print('\n'.join(sys.path))"
Look for differences. If there are none:
A common error in import situations like this is that python will first look at the local dir. So if you happen to be running python and importing something what is found locally (i.e. cx_Oracle is a subdir of your current location), you will get an import error if you change directories.
Final note: I have assumed here that the shbang of the script.py points to the same executable as which python. That is, that python script.py and script.py return the same error.

os.system not finding file that is really there

This happens in the python build:
#is it executable
print os.access("support/d8/d8", os.X_OK)
#is it there in the shell
os.system("test -f support/d8/d8 && echo \"found\" || echo \"not found\"")
and then:
#run it
os.system("support/d8/d8 --trace_exception with a bunch of files");
which outputs:
True
found
sh: 1: support/d8/d8: not found
I don't get it. It's there it's executable. Why is it not there when I start it.
link to the travis build: https://travis-ci.org/albertjan/skulpt/builds
and a link to the repository: https://github.com/albertjan/skulpt the build script is called m

You're running an x86_32 bit executable d8 (despite the comment, by the way). If the (Travis) system is x64, and/or does not have all of the x86_32 libraries
linux-gate.so.1
libpthread.so.0
libstdc++.so.6
libm.so.6
libgcc_s.so.1
libc.so.6
then the executable won't run, since the loader cannot find all required libraries. Build statically and/or for x64.

Why don't you try this:
os.system("./support/d8/d8 --trace_exception with a bunch of files");
I had a similar issue, while executing the ./ is some how required.

If your file "support/d8/d8" has a non existent "bang line" then this error occurs
$ cat support/d8/d8
#!/usr/bin/thisdoesnotexist
echo "hello"
$ chmod 755 support/d8/d8
$ python
Python 2.7.3 (default, Apr 10 2013, 06:20:15)
[GCC 4.6.3] on linux2
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import os
>>> os.system("support/d8/d8 --wer")
sh: 1: support/d8/d8: not found
32512

Adding the full file path seems to resolve the Error in Python 3.x.
Example: /home/[your_username]/support/d8/d8
You can use pwd to get the path of your current directory. Then add your filename and you're good to go.
Example: Let's say pwd outputs /home/jakob/project and your script is called test.py the line has to look like this: os.system('/home/jakob/project/test.py').
PS: don't forget to import os at the beginning of your script.

Can python shell have some pre-input?

When testing in python shell, I always have to type some import like:
Python 2.5.4 (r254:67916, Jun 24 2010, 15:23:27)
[GCC 4.4.3] on linux2
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>>import sys
>>>import datetime
Can someone help me to automatically finish these? It means I run some command to enter python shell it has already done import for me, and a python shell waiting for me to continue type command.
Thanks.

Try:
python -i -c "import sys; import datetime;"
More info:
-i : inspect interactively after running script; forces a prompt even
if stdin does not appear to be a terminal; also PYTHONINSPECT=x
&
-c cmd : program passed in as string (terminates option list)

Create a file with the commands you want to execute during startup, and set the environment variable PYTHONSTARTUP to the location of that file. The interactive interpreter will then load and execute that file. See http://docs.python.org/tutorial/interpreter.html#the-interactive-startup-file
On a sidenote, you might want to consider ipython as an improved Python shell when working in interactive mode.

Determing Python version at runtime [duplicate]

How do I check which version of the Python interpreter is running my script?

This information is available in the sys.version string in the sys module:
>>> import sys
Human readable:
>>> print(sys.version) # parentheses necessary in python 3.
2.5.2 (r252:60911, Jul 31 2008, 17:28:52)
[GCC 4.2.3 (Ubuntu 4.2.3-2ubuntu7)]
For further processing, use sys.version_info or sys.hexversion:
>>> sys.version_info
(2, 5, 2, 'final', 0)
# or
>>> sys.hexversion
34014192
To ensure a script runs with a minimal version requirement of the Python interpreter add this to your code:
assert sys.version_info >= (2, 5)
This compares major and minor version information. Add micro (=0, 1, etc) and even releaselevel (='alpha','final', etc) to the tuple as you like. Note however, that it is almost always better to "duck" check if a certain feature is there, and if not, workaround (or bail out). Sometimes features go away in newer releases, being replaced by others.

From the command line (note the capital 'V'):
python -V
This is documented in 'man python'.
From IPython console
!python -V

Use platform's python_version from the stdlib:
from platform import python_version
print(python_version())
# 3.9.2

I like sys.hexversion for stuff like this.
>>> import sys
>>> sys.hexversion
33883376
>>> '%x' % sys.hexversion
'20504f0'
>>> sys.hexversion < 0x02060000
True

Your best bet is probably something like so:
>>> import sys
>>> sys.version_info
(2, 6, 4, 'final', 0)
>>> if not sys.version_info[:2] == (2, 6):
... print "Error, I need python 2.6"
... else:
... from my_module import twoPointSixCode
>>>
Additionally, you can always wrap your imports in a simple try, which should catch syntax errors. And, to #Heikki's point, this code will be compatible with much older versions of python:
>>> try:
... from my_module import twoPointSixCode
... except Exception:
... print "can't import, probably because your python is too old!"
>>>

Put something like:
#!/usr/bin/env/python
import sys
if sys.version_info<(2,6,0):
sys.stderr.write("You need python 2.6 or later to run this script\n")
exit(1)
at the top of your script.
Note that depending on what else is in your script, older versions of python than the target may not be able to even load the script, so won't get far enough to report this error. As a workaround, you can run the above in a script that imports the script with the more modern code.

Here's a short commandline version which exits straight away (handy for scripts and automated execution):
python -c "print(__import__('sys').version)"
Or just the major, minor and micro:
python -c "print(__import__('sys').version_info[:1])" # (2,)
python -c "print(__import__('sys').version_info[:2])" # (2, 7)
python -c "print(__import__('sys').version_info[:3])" # (2, 7, 6)

With six module, you can do it by:
import six
if six.PY2:
# this is python2.x
else:
# six.PY3
# this is python3.x

import sys
sys.version.split(' ')[0]
sys.version gives you what you want, just pick the first number :)

Like Seth said, the main script could check sys.version_info (but note that that didn't appear until 2.0, so if you want to support older versions you would need to check another version property of the sys module).
But you still need to take care of not using any Python language features in the file that are not available in older Python versions. For example, this is allowed in Python 2.5 and later:
try:
pass
except:
pass
finally:
pass
but won't work in older Python versions, because you could only have except OR finally match the try. So for compatibility with older Python versions you need to write:
try:
try:
pass
except:
pass
finally:
pass

Several answers already suggest how to query the current python version. To check programmatically the version requirements, I'd make use of one of the following two methods:
# Method 1: (see krawyoti's answer)
import sys
assert(sys.version_info >= (2,6))
# Method 2:
import platform
from distutils.version import StrictVersion
assert(StrictVersion(platform.python_version()) >= "2.6")

Just for fun, the following is a way of doing it on CPython 1.0-3.7b2, Pypy, Jython and Micropython. This is more of a curiosity than a way of doing it in modern code. I wrote it as part of http://stromberg.dnsalias.org/~strombrg/pythons/ , which is a script for testing a snippet of code on many versions of python at once, so you can easily get a feel for what python features are compatible with what versions of python:
via_platform = 0
check_sys = 0
via_sys_version_info = 0
via_sys_version = 0
test_sys = 0
try:
import platform
except (ImportError, NameError):
# We have no platform module - try to get the info via the sys module
check_sys = 1
if not check_sys:
if hasattr(platform, "python_version"):
via_platform = 1
else:
check_sys = 1
if check_sys:
try:
import sys
test_sys = 1
except (ImportError, NameError):
# just let via_sys_version_info and via_sys_version remain False - we have no sys module
pass
if test_sys:
if hasattr(sys, "version_info"):
via_sys_version_info = 1
elif hasattr(sys, "version"):
via_sys_version = 1
else:
# just let via_sys remain False
pass
if via_platform:
# This gives pretty good info, but is not available in older interpreters. Also, micropython has a
# platform module that does not really contain anything.
print(platform.python_version())
elif via_sys_version_info:
# This is compatible with some older interpreters, but does not give quite as much info.
print("%s.%s.%s" % sys.version_info[:3])
elif via_sys_version:
import string
# This is compatible with some older interpreters, but does not give quite as much info.
verbose_version = sys.version
version_list = string.split(verbose_version)
print(version_list[0])
else:
print("unknown")

If you want to detect pre-Python 3 and don't want to import anything...
...you can (ab)use list comprehension scoping changes and do it in a single expression:
is_python_3_or_above = (lambda x: [x for x in [False]] and None or x)(True)

from sys import version_info, api_version, version, hexversion
print(f"sys.version: {version}")
print(f"sys.api_version: {api_version}")
print(f"sys.version_info: {version_info}")
print(f"sys.hexversion: {hexversion}")
output
sys.version: 3.6.5 (v3.6.5:f59c0932b4, Mar 28 2018, 17:00:18) [MSC v.1900 64 bit (AMD64)]
sys.api_version: 1013
sys.version_info: sys.version_info(major=3, minor=6, micro=5, releaselevel='final', serial=0)
sys.hexversion: 50726384

The simplest way
Just type python in your terminal and you can see the version
as like following
desktop:~$ python
Python 2.7.6 (default, Jun 22 2015, 18:00:18)
[GCC 4.8.2] on linux2
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>>

sys.version_info doesn't seem to return a tuple as of 3.7. Rather, it returns a special class, so all of the examples using tuples don't work, for me at least. Here's the output from a python console:
>>> import sys
>>> type(sys.version_info)
<class 'sys.version_info'>
I've found that using a combination of sys.version_info.major and sys.version_info.minor seems to suffice. For example,...
import sys
if sys.version_info.major > 3:
print('Upgrade to Python 3')
exit(1)
checks if you're running Python 3. You can even check for more specific versions with...
import sys
ver = sys.version_info
if ver.major > 2:
if ver.major == 3 and ver.minor <= 4:
print('Upgrade to Python 3.5')
exit(1)
can check to see if you're running at least Python 3.5.

Check Python version: python -V or python --version or apt-cache policy python
you can also run whereis python to see how many versions are installed.

To verify the Python version for commands on Windows, run the following commands in a command prompt and verify the output
c:\>python -V
Python 2.7.16
c:\>py -2 -V
Python 2.7.16
c:\>py -3 -V
Python 3.7.3
Also, To see the folder configuration for each Python version, run the following commands:
For Python 2,'py -2 -m site'
For Python 3,'py -3 -m site'

This just returns 2.7, 3.6 or 3.9
import sys
current_version = ".".join(map(str, sys.version_info[0:2]))
which is what you usually you need...

The even simpler simplest way:
In Spyder, start a new "IPython Console", then run any of your existing scripts.
Now the version can be seen in the first output printed in the console window:
"Python 3.7.3 (default, Apr 24 2019, 15:29:51)..."

To check from the command-line, in one single command, but include major, minor, micro version, releaselevel and serial, then invoke the same Python interpreter (i.e. same path) as you're using for your script:
> path/to/your/python -c "import sys; print('{}.{}.{}-{}-{}'.format(*sys.version_info))"
3.7.6-final-0
Note: .format() instead of f-strings or '.'.join() allows you to use arbitrary formatting and separator chars, e.g. to make this a greppable one-word string. I put this inside a bash utility script that reports all important versions: python, numpy, pandas, sklearn, MacOS, xcode, clang, brew, conda, anaconda, gcc/g++ etc. Useful for logging, replicability, troubleshootingm bug-reporting etc.

all answers has great insights
another way is platform.python_version_tuple()
python3 -c “import platform; print(platform.python_version_tuple())”
(‘3’, ‘6’, ‘8’)

if you want to check the python version for at least condition (e.g., python 3.9.0):
import platform
python_version_tuple = list(map(int, platform.python_version_tuple()))
if python_version_tuple >= [3, 9, 0]:
# Running at least Python 3.9.0
else:
# Running Python below 3.9.0

If you are working on linux just give command python output will be like this
Python 2.4.3 (#1, Jun 11 2009, 14:09:37)
[GCC 4.1.2 20080704 (Red Hat 4.1.2-44)] on linux2
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more
information.

For windows, Go to command prompt and type this command to get the python version:
python --version
Or
python -V

A attempt using os.popen to read it in a variable:
import os
ver = os.popen('python -V').read().strip()
print(ver)