The command-line tool used to install packages from the Python Package Index is pip. It connects to PyPI, Python’s main public repository for third-party software, and retrieves packages and their dependencies for installation.
A typical command is `pip install package-name`. Pip can also remove packages, upgrade them, install exact versions, and reproduce a project’s environment from a `requirements.txt` file. Most modern Python installations include pip, although some Linux distributions package it separately.
Pip began in 2008 as an alternative to Easy Install and was created by Ian Bicking, who also created virtualenv. The name is commonly expanded as “Pip Installs Packages,” a recursive acronym. The tool is sometimes confused with conda, but conda is a broader package and environment manager associated especially with the Anaconda ecosystem; pip primarily handles Python packages.