How do I check what version of Python is running my script?

Question

How can I check what version of the Python Interpreter is interpreting my script?

Answer 1

Just for fun, the following is a way of doing it on CPython 1.0-3.7b2, Pypy, Jython and Micropython. This is more of a curiosity than a way of doing it in modern code. I wrote it as part of http://stromberg.dnsalias.org/~strombrg/pythons/ , which is a script for testing a snippet of code on many versions of python at once, so you can easily get a feel for what python features are compatible with what versions of python:

via_platform = 0
check_sys = 0
via_sys_version_info = 0
via_sys_version = 0
test_sys = 0
try:
    import platform
except (ImportError, NameError):
    # We have no platform module - try to get the info via the sys module
    check_sys = 1

if not check_sys:
    if hasattr(platform, "python_version"):
        via_platform = 1
    else:
        check_sys = 1

if check_sys:
    try:
        import sys
        test_sys = 1
    except (ImportError, NameError):
        # just let via_sys_version_info and via_sys_version remain False - we have no sys module
        pass

if test_sys:
    if hasattr(sys, "version_info"):
        via_sys_version_info = 1
    elif hasattr(sys, "version"):
        via_sys_version = 1
    else:
        # just let via_sys remain False
        pass

if via_platform:
    # This gives pretty good info, but is not available in older interpreters.  Also, micropython has a
    # platform module that does not really contain anything.
    print(platform.python_version())
elif via_sys_version_info:
    # This is compatible with some older interpreters, but does not give quite as much info.
    print("%s.%s.%s" % sys.version_info[:3])
elif via_sys_version:
    import string
    # This is compatible with some older interpreters, but does not give quite as much info.
    verbose_version = sys.version
    version_list = string.split(verbose_version)
    print(version_list[0])
else:
    print("unknown")