How to force pip to reinstall a package in Python

# How to force pip to reinstall a package in Python

Use the --force-reinstall option to force pip to reinstall a package, e.g. pip install requests --force-reinstall.

The --force-reinstall option reinstalls the specified packages and their dependencies, even if the packages are up to date.

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# 👇️ Force reinstall a package
pip install requests --force-reinstall
pip3 install requests --force-reinstall

# 👇️ Force reinstall a package and upgrade to the latest version
pip install requests --force-reinstall --upgrade
pip3 install requests --force-reinstall --upgrade

# 👇️ Force reinstall all packages in your requirements.txt file
pip install -r requirements.txt --upgrade --force-reinstall

The --force-reinstall option reinstalls the specified packages even if they are already up-to-date.

The --upgrade option upgrades the specified packages to the newest available version.

# Only reinstalling the package without its dependencies

If you only want to force pip to reinstall a package without reinstalling its dependencies, use the --no-deps option.

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pip install requests --force-reinstall --upgrade --no-deps

# Ignoring installed packages and reinstalling them

If you need to ignore one or more installed packages and reinstall them, you can also use the --ignore-installed option.

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pip install requests --ignore-installed

The --ignore-installed option ignores the installed packages (and their dependencies) and overwrites them.

In general, it's better to use the --force-reinstall option because it's cleaner, doesn't leave orphaned files and is less likely to break things.

# Reinstalling all packages in your requirements.txt file

If you need to reinstall all packages in your requirements.txt file, use the following command.

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pip install -r requirements.txt --upgrade --force-reinstall
pip3 install -r requirements.txt --upgrade --force-reinstall

The -r option is a shorthand for --requirement and installs from the given requirements file.

# Disabling the cache with --no-cache-dir

There is also a --no-cache-dir option that can be used to disable the cache.

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pip install requests --no-cache-dir --force-reinstall --upgrade
pip3 install requests --no-cache-dir --force-reinstall --upgrade

Pip's caching is turned on by default with the intent to save time on duplicate downloads and builds.

Using the --no-cache-dir option disables pip's cache.

# Upgrade your versions of pip, setuptools and wheel

If you got an error while running any of the commands in the article, try upgrading your versions of pip, setuptools and wheel.

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pip install --upgrade pip setuptools wheel
pip3 install --upgrade pip setuptools wheel

# 👇️ If you don't have pip set up in PATH
python -m pip install --upgrade pip setuptools wheel
python3 -m pip install --upgrade pip setuptools wheel
py -m pip install --upgrade pip setuptools wheel

If you don't have pip set up in your system's PATH environment variable, use the python -m command instead.

# Additional Resources

You can learn more about the related topics by checking out the following tutorials:

• Pip install multiple requirements files in Python
• How to pip install a package Globally instead of Locally
• Pip install and uninstall in silent, non-interactive mode
• Pip install a specific version of a Python package
• Pip list all available versions of a Python package
• The purpose of pip's --no-cache-dir option
• Remove/uninstall all packages installed by pip in Python
• Fatal error in launcher: Unable to create process using pip
• "pip install" causes SyntaxError: invalid syntax [Solved]
• ImportError: DLL load failed: %1 is not a valid Win32 application
• OSError: [E050] Can't find model 'en_core_web_sm'