I have a Macbook with OS X El Captain. I think that Python 2.7
comes preinstalled on it. However, I installed Python 3.5
too. When I started using Python 3
, I read that if I want to install a package, I should type:
pip3 install some_package
Anyway, now when I use
pip install some_package
I get some_package
installed for Python 3
. I mean I can import it and use it without problems. Moreover, when I type just pip3
in Terminal
, I got this message about the usage:
Usage:
pip <command> [options]
which is the same message I get when I type just pip
.
Does it mean that in previos versions, things were different, and now pip
and pip3
can be used interchangeably? If so, and for the sake of argument, how can I install packages for Python 2
instead of Python 3
?
Your pip
is a soft link to the same executable file path with pip3
.
you can use the commands below to check where your pip
and pip3
real paths are:
$ ls -l `which pip`
$ ls -l `which pip3`
You may also use the commands below to know more details:
$ pip show pip
$ pip3 show pip
When we install different versions of python, we may create such soft links to
It is the same situation with python
, python2
, python3
More information below if you're interested in how it happens in different cases: