What you will need

  • A computer (PC/Mac/Linux/Raspberry Pi)
  • An internet connection

Software

How to install Python 3

If Python 3 or IDLE isn’t installed on your computer, follow the installation instructions below for your operating system:

Microsoft Windows

It is recommended that you install Python via the Microsoft Store. If this is not possible, you can also use a Python installer from www.python.org.

The python 3.8 application page in the microsoft store

  • Python 3.8 will be downloaded and installed. Progress will be shown in the notification bar.

python 3.8 installation progress notification

  • When the installation process is complete, a notification will appear.

python 3.8 installation complete notification

Python installer

  • Open your web browser and navigate to www.python.org/downloads.

  • On this web page, you will see a button to install the latest version of Python 3. Click the button, and a download will start automatically.

windows download python 3

  • Click on the .exe file to run it. (It will have been saved in your Downloads folder, or wherever your computer saves downloaded files by default.)

windows run install

  • In the dialogue box that opens, it is important that you first tick the box next to Add Python 3 to PATH.

add Python to the path

  • Click on Install Now and follow the installation guide. The setup process will take a little time.

windows install python

  • Once the setup is complete, click on Done, and then close your web browser. Now, you can go to the Start menu to open IDLE.

macOS

  • Open your web browser and navigate to www.python.org/downloads.

  • On this web page, you will see a button to install the latest version of Python 3. Click the button, and a download will start automatically.

macos download python 3

  • Click on the download in the dock to start the installation process.

macos start install

  • Click on Continue and follow the installation guide. The installation may take a little time.

macos install python

  • When the installation process is complete, click on Close.

  • Open IDLE from your Applications.

Raspberry Pi OS and other Linux (Debian-based) distributions

Most distributions of Linux come with Python 3 already installed, but they might not have IDLE, the default IDE (interactive development environment), installed.

Use apt to check whether they are installed and install them if they aren’t.

  • Open a terminal window and type:
sudo apt update
sudo apt install python3 idle3

This will install Python 3 (and IDLE), and you should then be able to find it in your Application menu.

You can use pip to install the requests module.

Installing Python modules with pip

Installing Python modules with pip

pip or pip3 is a command line tool for installing Python 3 modules.

Modules can be downloaded as packages from the Python Package Index and installed on your computer automatically.

To install a module, use the pip3 install name_of_module command, replacing name_of_module with the module you wish to install.

Follow the instructions below for your operating system.

Raspberry Pi

  • Open a terminal window by clicking Menu > Accessories > Terminal.

  • Enter this command to install a module:

sudo pip3 install name_of_module

pi pip install

If you experience problems, have a look at our guide Using pip on Raspberry Pi.

Windows

  • Open a command prompt by clicking Start > Windows System > Command Prompt, or by typing ‘command’ into the start menu’s search bar.

windows command prompt

  • Enter this command to install a module:
pip3 install name_of_module

windows pip install

If you experience problems, have a look at our guide Using pip on Windows.

macOS

  • Open a terminal window by clicking Applications > Utilities > Terminal, or by typing ‘terminal’ into the desktop’s search bar.

  • Enter this command to install a module:

pip3 install name_of_module

mac pip install

Linux

  • Open a terminal window.

  • Enter this command to install a module:

sudo pip3 install name_of_module

linux pip install

Troubleshooting installation issues

There is comprehensive documentation for pip at pip.pypa.io which will help you with troubleshooting. Here are a few of the common issues, to help you identify problems.

Installation issues

If the installation of a package fails you may see an error message similar to these:

Could not find a version that satisfies the requirement <package-name (from versions: )>
No matching distribution found for <package-name>

The most common source of these errors is a misspelled package name.

You should also check that you are using the package name and not the module name. e.g. the package name for PIL (Python Imaging Library) is pillow and not PIL.

Module import issues

If the package installs but an error occurs when you try to import the module, check the following:

  1. Which version of Python pip is installing packages into?

    If you have multiple versions of Python on your computer, pip might be installing modules for a different version than the one your program is using.

    It may be a case of using the right version of the pip command, make sure you are using pip3.

  2. Is the package included in your package list?

    You can use the following command to list all the Python packages you have installed.

    pip3 list

Upgrading a package

When you install a Python package that is already on your computer, it will not update it to the latest version.

Use this command to update a Python package to the latest version:

pip3 install --upgrade name_of_module

Uninstalling a package

Use this command to uninstall a Python package:

pip3 uninstall name_of_module
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