Package search and install specifications

Conda supports the following specifications for conda search and conda install.

Package search

conda search for a specific package or set of packages can be accomplished in several ways. This section includes information on the standard specification and the use of key-value pairs.

Standard specification

channel: (Optional) Can either be a channel name or URL. Channel names may include letters, numbers, dashes, and underscores.
subdir: (Optional) A subdirectory of a channel. Many subdirs are used for architectures, but this is not required. Must have a channel and backslash preceding it. For example: main/noarch
name: (Required) Package name. May include the * wildcard. For example, *py* returns all packages that have "py" in their names, such as "numpy", "pytorch", "python", etc.
version: (Optional) Package version. May include the * wildcard or a version range(s) in single quotes. For example: numpy=1.17.* returns all numpy packages with a version containing "1.17." and numpy>1.17,<1.19.2 returns all numpy packages with versions greater than 1.17 and less than 1.19.2.
build: (Optional) Package build name. May include the * wildcard. For example, numpy 1.17.3 py38* returns all version 1.17.3 numpy packages with a build name that contains the text "py38".

Key-value pairs

Package searches can also be performed using what is called "key-value pair notation", which has different rules than the Standard specification example image. The search below will return the same list of packages as the standard specification.

$ conda search "numpy[channel=conda-forge, subdir=linux-64, version=1.17.*, build=py38*]"

This notation supports the following key-value pairs:

- build                # validated via GlobStrMatch
- build_number         # validated via BuildNumberMatch
- channel              # validated via ChannelMatch
- features             # validated via FeatureMatch
- fn                   # validated via ExactStrMatch
- license              # validated via CaseInsensitiveStrMatch
- license_family       # validated via CaseInsensitiveStrMatch
- md5                  # validated via ExactStrMatch
- name                 # validated via GlobLowerStrMatch
- sha256               # validated via ExactStrMatch
- subdir               # validated via ExactStrMatch
- track_features       # validated via FeatureMatch
- url                  # validated via ExactStrMatch
- version              # validated via VersionSpec

Key-value pair notation can be used at the same time as standard notation.

$ conda search "conda-forge::numpy=1.17.3[subdir=linux-64, build=py38*]"

Warning

Any search values using the key-value pair notation will override values in the rest of the search string. For example, conda search numpy 1.17.3[version=1.19.2] will return packages with the version 1.19.2.

Package installation

When you're installing packages, conda recommends being as concrete as possible. Using * wildcards and version ranges during an install will most likely cause a conflict.

However, * wildcards can still be helpful in an install command when used sparingly.

Installing with wildcards

Let's say you are working on a project that requires version 2.3 of a package. If you upgrade to 2.4 or 3.0, your project will break. You're also using an environment file to create your environment.

In the version 2.3.1, 2 is the major version, 3 is the minor version, and 1 is the patch. Patches typically contain bug fixes, so if you want to keep version 2.3 in your environment without updating to 2.4 or 3.0, but want to take advantage of any bug fixes, using 2.3.* in your environment file would be helpful to you.

Concrete install example

Let's take the search from the Package search section.

$ conda search "conda-forge/linux-64::numpy 1.17.* py38*"

This returns the following:

Loading channels: done
# Name                       Version           Build  Channel
numpy                         1.17.3  py38h95a1406_0  conda-forge
numpy                         1.17.5  py38h18fd61f_1  conda-forge
numpy                         1.17.5  py38h95a1406_0  conda-forge

You can then choose a specific version and build, if necessary, and edit your conda install command accordingly.

$ conda install "conda-forge/linux-64::numpy 1.17.5 py38h95a1406_0"