How to change pip3 command to be pip?

Question

I uninstalled pip, and I installed pip3 instead. Now, I want to use pip3 by typing pip only. The reason is I am used to type pip only and every guide uses the pip command, so every time I want to copy and paste commands, I have to modify pip to pip3 which wastes time. When I type pip I have an error which is pip: command not found which means pip command is not taken. Is it possible to make pip points to pip3?

Answer 1

You can use pip3 using the alias pip by adding alias to your .bashrc file.

alias pip=pip3

or by adding a symlink named pip to your $PATH, which points to the pip3 binary.

If there is no ~/.bashrc in your home directory on macOS, inputting

alias pip=pip3

in your ~/.zprofile file has the same effect.

Answer 2

Rather than manually creating your own alias in bash and hoping this doesn't conflict with anything, most package managers should allow you to register the version you wish to use whilst maintaining dependencies.

For instance on Linux:

sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/pip pip /usr/bin/pip3 1

Or on Mac (MacPorts):

port select --set pip pip3

Answer 3

Solution 1

Check which version pip is pointing to

pip --version
pip 18.0 from /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/pip (python 2.7)

If your pip is pointing to pip2, locate where is the pip "binary".

which pip
/usr/bin/pip

This is a simple python script:

cat /usr/bin/pip
#!/usr/bin/python2

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
import re
import sys

from pip._internal import main

if __name__ == '__main__':
    sys.argv[0] = re.sub(r'(-script\.pyw?|\.exe)?$', '', sys.argv[0])
    sys.exit(main())

So just change the shebang from #!/usr/bin/python2 to #!/usr/bin/python3.

Now pip is pointing to pip3.

pip --version         
pip 18.0 from /usr/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pip (python 3.6)

Solution 2

Remove /usr/bin/pip make make a symbolic link from the wanted pip version to it instead.

sudo rm /usr/bin/pip
sudo ln -s /usr/bin/pip3.6 /usr/bin/pip

Answer 4

Since you uninstalled pip, this solution assumes you're only going to use pip3.

1. Open your terminal.

2. Create a simple link. To do that type:

   sudo ln -s /usr/bin/pip3 /usr/bin/pip

Now when you type pip, it will invoke pip3.

Check that it worked by typing pip --version

pip --version   
pip 9.0.1 from /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages (python 3.6)

You're all set!

Answer 5

You can install pip after install pip3 by the below command:

pip3 install --upgrade pip

after that:

~ pip --version
pip 20.0.2 from /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip (python 3.8)

Answer 6

You can write pip for pip3 after changing bashrc file in the home directory.

In mac -

Open bashrc file -

vim ~/.bashrc

Add this line at the end of the file -

alias pip="pip3"

Close the file. Don't forget to source this file in the terminal by

source ~/.bashrc

You are good to go. Now, whenever you will use pip in any command. it will be interpreted as pip3

You can check it by running the command -

pip --version

Answer 7

Pip is installed in /usr/bin/. If you don't have pip at all, I would suggest to install pip3 only. Make sure you don't need older version.

You can check available pip versions using following command.

ls /usr/bin/pip*

If you have multiple pip you need to prioritize your pip versions. I had only pip3 so I add it to the first priority. You can use following command and it is done.

sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/pip pip /usr/bin/pip3 1

You will get output as :

update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/pip3 to provide /usr/bin/pip (pip) in auto mode

Test now:

pip --version

You will get: pip 18.1 from /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip (python 3.7)

If you have other version for python2.7, you can use same update command and change last digit 1 to 2. This will make it second priority.

Answer 8

I believe one shouldn't do such a thing. Actually I would argue it's even better to not use the pip, pip3, etc. scripts ever. Instead one should always prefer the more explicit and surefire way of using pip's executable module for one specific Python interpreter:

path/to/pythonX.Y -m pip somecommand

References:

• https://snarky.ca/why-you-should-use-python-m-pip/
• https://snarky.ca/a-quick-and-dirty-guide-on-how-to-install-packages-for-python/

Answer 9

This can be done by simply creating an alias for the command. To create an alias just type

$alias new_command="existing_command"
In your case,
$alias pip="pip3"

Although this isn't permanent. OT make it permanent edit your bashrc file
$ vim ~/.bashrc
an to the end of it append the line. $alias pip="pip3"

Answer 10

It depends on how you manage your python versions (system, brew, pyenv, ...) and which python installation you are currently using.

For example if you use brew then creating a simlink is a good option:

ln -s -f /usr/local/bin/pip3 /usr/local/bin/pip

validate that pip uses the correct version:

which pip

will give you

/usr/local/bin/pip

Answer 11

Open the shell configuration file (such as .bashrc or .bash_profile) in a text editor. For example open it with nano sudo nano .bash_profile or with vim vim .bash_profile.

Add this function, which checks if pip3 exists and pass all the arguments received by the pip function to pip3:

function pip {
    if [[ $(which pip3) ]]; then
        pip3 "$@"
    else
        echo "pip3 command not found. Make sure Python 3 and pip3 are installed."
    fi
}

If pip3 is not found (i.e., it doesn't exist on your system), it displays an error message indicating that pip3 is not available.

Answer 12

Copy the pip3 file and rename as pip:

sudo cp /usr/bin/pip3 /usr/bin/pip
pip --version 

and

pip3 --version 

Works now.