Managing Python#
Conda treats Python the same as any other package, so it is easy to manage and update multiple installations.
Conda supports Python 3.8, 3.9, 3.10, 3.11 and 3.12.
Viewing a list of available Python versions#
To list the versions of Python that are available to install, in your terminal window, run:
conda search python
This lists all packages whose names contain the text python
.
To list only the packages whose full name is exactly python
,
add the --full-name
option. In your terminal window, run:
conda search --full-name python
Installing a different version of Python#
To install a different version of Python without overwriting the current version, create a new environment and install the second Python version into it:
Create the new environment:
To create the new environment for Python 3.9, in your terminal window run:
conda create -n py39 python=3.9
Note
Replace
py39
with the name of the environment you want to create.python=3.9
is the package and version you want to install in this new environment. This could be any package, such asnumpy=1.19
, or multiple packages.
Verify that the new environment is your current environment.
To verify that the current environment uses the new Python version, in your terminal window, run:
python --version
Installing PyPy#
To use the PyPy builds you can do the following:
conda config --add channels conda-forge
conda config --set channel_priority strict
conda create -n pypy pypy
conda activate pypy
Using a different version of Python#
To switch to an environment that has different version of Python, activate the environment.
Updating Python#
To update Python to the latest version in your environment, run:
conda update python
This command will update you to the latest major release (e.g. from python=3.10
to python=3.12
).
If you would like to remain on a minor release, use the conda install
command instead:
conda install python=3.10