Get Latest Python Package Version

When you need to add a package to your requirements.txt file, how do you know what version to use? Well, if you're like me, you may have done one of the following:

1. Install the package and see what version it installed, then add it to your requirements file.
2. Run pip freeze | grep <package_name> and see what version is installed and then add it to your requirements file.
3. Go to pypi.org and look for the package and see what the latest version is.

Have you ever wished there were a command to just tell you what the latest version of a package is? Well, there is:

pip index versions <package_name>

This will give you output like this:

WARNING: pip index is currently an experimental command. It may be removed/changed in a future release without prior warning.
requests (2.31.0)
Available versions: 2.31.0, 2.30.0, 2.29.0, 2.28.2, 2.28.1, 2.28.0, 2.27.1, 2.27.0, 2.26.0, 2.25.1, 2.25.0, 2.24.0, 2.23.0, 2.22.0, 2.21.0, 2.20.1, 2.20.0, 2.19.1, 2.19.0, 2.18.4, 2.18.3, 2.18.2, 2.18.1, 2.18.0, 2.17.3, 2.17.2, 2.17.1, 2.17.0, 2.16.5, 2.16.4, 2.16.3, 2.16.2, 2.16.1, 2.16.0, 2.15.1, 2.14.2, 2.14.1, 2.14.0, 2.13.0, 2.12.5, 2.12.4, 2.12.3, 2.12.2, 2.12.1, 2.12.0, 2.11.1, 2.11.0, 2.10.0, 2.9.2, 2.9.1, 2.9.0, 2.8.1, 2.8.0, 2.7.0, 2.6.2, 2.6.1, 2.6.0, 2.5.3, 2.5.2, 2.5.1, 2.5.0, 2.4.3, 2.4.2, 2.4.1, 2.4.0, 2.3.0, 2.2.1, 2.2.0, 2.1.0, 2.0.1, 2.0.0, 1.2.3, 1.2.2, 1.2.1, 1.2.0, 1.1.0, 1.0.4, 1.0.3, 1.0.2, 1.0.1, 1.0.0, 0.14.2, 0.14.1, 0.14.0, 0.13.9, 0.13.8, 0.13.7, 0.13.6, 0.13.5, 0.13.4, 0.13.3, 0.13.2, 0.13.1, 0.13.0, 0.12.1, 0.12.0, 0.11.2, 0.11.1, 0.10.8, 0.10.7, 0.10.6, 0.10.4, 0.10.3, 0.10.2, 0.10.1, 0.10.0, 0.9.3, 0.9.2, 0.9.1, 0.9.0, 0.8.9, 0.8.8, 0.8.7, 0.8.6, 0.8.5, 0.8.4, 0.8.3, 0.8.2, 0.8.1, 0.8.0, 0.7.6, 0.7.5, 0.7.4, 0.7.3, 0.7.2, 0.7.1, 0.7.0, 0.6.6, 0.6.5, 0.6.4, 0.6.3, 0.6.2, 0.6.1, 0.6.0, 0.5.1, 0.5.0, 0.4.1, 0.4.0, 0.3.4, 0.3.3, 0.3.2, 0.3.1, 0.3.0, 0.2.4, 0.2.3, 0.2.2, 0.2.1, 0.2.0

I could then add requests==2.31.0

But, being the lazy man I am, and knowing I'm going to forget this command by the time I save my requirements file, I wrote a script to make it even easier.

First, create the script (~/bin is in my PATH):

touch ~/bin/piplatest && chmod +x ~/bin/piplatest

Then add the following to this new file:

#!/bin/bash

# Check if an argument is provided
if [ $# -eq 0 ]; then
    echo "Usage: $0 <package_name>"
    exit 1
fi

# Use pip to get the latest version of the package
latest_version=$(pip index versions "$1" 2>/dev/null | egrep -o '([0-9]+\.){2}[0-9]+' | head -n 1)

# Check if pip index returned a version string
if [ -z "$latest_version" ]; then
    echo "Could not find the latest version for the package '$1'."
    exit 1
fi

# Output the package name with the latest version in requirements format
echo "$1==$latest_version"

Now I just run piplatest requests and I get the output requests==2.31.0. Even better, I run piplatest requests | pbcopy and it will put it on my clipboard for me to paste into my requirements file. (If you don't have pbcopy, you can install it via brew install pbcopy)