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

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 Ubuntu. More specifically, I would like to

be able to search for packages given a term (similar to apt-cache search [package-name]), and
list all available packages.

python pip

Solution 1:^[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.

Update: As a CLI alternative to pip, that uses PyPI registry, one can use poetry:

$ poetry search <package>

Solution 2:^[2]

As of December the 14th, 2020, the pip search functionality has been disabled :

$ pip search cast
ERROR: XMLRPC request failed [code: -32500]
RuntimeError: PyPI's XMLRPC API is currently disabled due to unmanageable load and will be deprecated in the near future. See https://status.python.org/ for more information.

Alternatives

Here's a little tool called pip_search I've just found that does a simple search but it does the job.

This is pip_search v0.0.6 output:

$ pip_search pulsemixer
----------------  -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Name              Description

pulsemixer        pulsemixer - CLI and curses mixer for PulseAudio
pulsectl-asyncio  Asyncio frontend for the pulsectl Python bindings of libpulse
pulsectl          Python high-level interface and ctypes-based bindings for PulseAudio (libpulse)
----------------  -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

UPDATE

pip_search has been updated, each folder is a clickable (CTRL+click) URL for each project, now it looks like this:

$ pip_search pulsemixer
                                           ? https://pypi.org/search/?q=pulsemixer ?                                            
??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
? Package             ? Version ? Released     ? Description                                                                     ?
??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
? ? pulsemixer       ? 1.5.1   ? Apr 11, 2020 ? pulsemixer - CLI and curses mixer for PulseAudio                                ?
? ? pulsectl-asyncio ? 0.1.7   ? Jun 13, 2021 ? Asyncio frontend for the pulsectl Python bindings of libpulse                   ?
? ? pulsectl         ? 21.5.18 ? May 22, 2021 ? Python high-level interface and ctypes-based bindings for PulseAudio (libpulse) ?
??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

To install it, just type:

pip install pip_search

There's also another tool that I've just tried called pypisearch.

To install it, just type: pip install pypisearch

And it works like this:

$ python -m pypisearch pulsemixer
pulsemixer (1.5.1)        [installed 1.5.0] pulsemixer - CLI and curses mixer for PulseAudio
pulsectl-asyncio (0.1.5)  Asyncio frontend for the pulsectl Python bindings of libpulse
pulsectl (21.3.4)         Python high-level interface and ctypes-based bindings for PulseAudio (libpulse)

Solution 3:^[3]

To search use pip search QUERY

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

Solution 4:^[4]

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.

Solution 5:^[5]

After Dec 2020, search doesn't work. But index does.

pip index versions <package_name>

Note: pip index is currently an experimental command. It may be removed/changed in a future release without prior warning.

Solution 6:^[6]

To see a list of all available packages try running

pip search *

Solution 7:^[7]

Use: pip show <package_name>

Sources

This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Overflow and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Source: Stack Overflow

Solution	Source
Solution 1
Solution 2	informatik01
Solution 3
Solution 4	BalÃ¡zs SÃ¡ros
Solution 5	cowlinator
Solution 6	bcarroll
Solution 7	Hache Laborde

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

Solution 1:[1]

Solution 2:[2]

Alternatives

UPDATE

Solution 3:[3]

Solution 4:[4]

Solution 5:[5]

Solution 6:[6]

Solution 7:[7]