How do I search for an available Python package using pip?

Question

I would like to be able to search for an available Python package using pip (on the terminal). I would like a functionality similar to apt-cache in Ubu

Answer 1

As of Dec 2020, pip search will not work (more).

The current feasible solution is to search online, on: https://pypi.org/ (reference also provided by previous comments).

If anyone hitting the following error:

xmlrpc.client.Fault: <Fault -32500: "RuntimeError: PyPI's XMLRPC API has been temporarily
disabled due to unmanageable load and will be deprecated in the near future.
See https://status.python.org/ for more information.">

as stated in #5216:

As an update: XMLRPC search does still remain disabled.

because:

As noted in #5216 (comment), a group of servers are hitting the pip search entry point, to an extent that PyPI cannot sustain that load with the current architecture of how pip search works.

Answer 2

To see a list of all available packages try running

pip search *

Answer 3

Pip search can solve your problem if you don't want to use it too often. But after regular use I found it hard to read, slow to use and it didn't show infos I sometimes needed (upload time, license, size, etc) so I ended up writing an alternative which I think turned out pretty nice.

It is called yip and it is like pip search on steroids. It supports regex search, colorized output and a menu system which makes installing from search result super easy. If you want to know more or see a screencap check it out on GitHub.

Answer 4

1. To search use pip search QUERY

   Use pip help and pip help COMMAND to learn about all available commands and their options.

2. You can find a complete list of packages here:

   https://pypi.org/

   An index with simpler markup for easier automatic consumption can be found here:

   https://pypi.org/simple/

Answer 5

To search for a package, issue the command

pip search [package-name]