Why Can\'t I Run \'pip install\' on My Python 3.4.1 Installation But \'python -m pip install\' Works?

Pip Installation Options: "pip install" vs "python -m pip install"

Question:

I'm facing an issue where I can only run "python -m pip install" on my local Python 3.4.1 installation but not "pip install." Could you explain the difference between these two approaches?

Answer:

Both "pip install" and "python -m pip install" ultimately serve the same purpose: installing Python packages using the pip package manager. However, there's a difference in how they are executed:

• "pip install": This assumes that the "pip" binary exists on your system path and calls it directly.
• "python -m pip install": This explicitly invokes the "pip" module as a module within a Python process and then calls its "install" function.

The main advantage of "python -m pip install" is that it allows you to specify the exact Python version for the execution of pip. The "pip" binary may not always be linked to the correct version in systems with multiple Python installations.

To demonstrate their equivalence, consider the following:

• The "pip" executable is a wrapper script that ultimately invokes "python -m pip install" with the "main" function in the pip module.
• In the "python -m pip install" approach, the same "main" function is directly executed from the pip package.

Both commands thus call the same main function in "pip/__init__.py." As a result, they should execute identically under the assumption that pip uses the same Python version as the "python" executable.

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