Get Python Version via Command Line

Python is one of the most popular programming language with huge community & large organization supporting, using it. According to PYPL PopularitY of Programming Language, Python is ranked 1^st again in 2021, recently analyzed in June 2021.

Python accepts multiple option on command line and one such option provides version that is being used.

In this article, we use --version option to retrieve current Python version being used by your operating system using the command line. This can be useful while developing or installing applications that require a specific version of Python.

Get Python Version with --version option

It display version of Python supported by your system. If you’re using Python 2 then you need to use python instead of python3 that is being used for Python 3.

Syntax

python3 --version

Python 3.8.5

Python follows semantic versioning. The releases are versioned in the following manner:

MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH

As per the output of Python 3.8.5, 3 is a major version, 6 is a minor version, and 8 is a patch version.

• MAJOR: Python has two major versions and both of them are not compatible, Python 2 and Python 3. For example, 3.6.7, 3.8.0, and 3.8.5 are release of the Python 3 major version.
• MINOR: These releases includes new features and functions. Release such as 3.8.3, 3.8.4, and 3.8.5 are all part of the Python 3.8 minor version.
• Patch: The new patch release contain bug fixes and improvements.

You can use python3 command to enter interactive mode and in first line python version will be specified.

Happy 😄 coding

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