How do I install the yaml package for Python?

Question

I have a Python program that uses YAML. I attempted to install it on a new server using pip install yaml and it returns the following:

$ sudo pip install yaml Downloading/unpacking yaml Could not find any downloads that satisfy the requirement yaml No distributions at all found for yaml Storing complete log in /home/pa/.pip/pip.log

How do I install the yaml package for Python? I'm running Python 2.7. (OS: Debian Wheezy)

add information on which platform do you use. libyaml. pyyaml.org/wiki/LibYAML is not pure python package, it may cause different installation. — Larry Cai
– Larry Cai, Commented Jul 31, 2013 at 15:09
For anyone else on the confusion of naming, pip install pyyaml imports as import yaml inside your actual script. — kevin_theinfinityfund
– kevin_theinfinityfund, Commented Feb 9, 2022 at 18:43

Community · Accepted Answer · 2023-10-22 10:54:49Z

807

You could try the search the feature on https://pypi.org/search (via a browser) and look for packages in PyPI with yaml in the short description. That reveals various packages, including PyYaml, yamltools, and PySyck, among others (Note that PySyck docs recommend using PyYaml, since syck is out of date). Now you know a specific package name, you can install it:

$ pip install pyyaml

If you want to install python yaml system-wide in linux, you can also use a package manager, like aptitude or yum:

$ sudo apt-get install python-yaml $ sudo yum install python-yaml

edited Oct 22, 2023 at 10:54

CommunityBot

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answered Jan 10, 2013 at 16:21

Bonlenfum

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12 Comments

TNT Over a year ago

The name of the PyYAML package at least on Fedora 21 and CentOS 7 is just PyYAML not python-yaml.

Anthon Over a year ago

PyYAML implements the old YAML 1.1 spec from 2004 (Syck the even older 1.0 spec). ruamel.yaml is now the non-out-of-date package that implements the YAML1.2 specification

tutuDajuju Over a year ago

@FirefoxMetzger you can get python, get pip, build LibYAML from source, and finally install PyYAML. LibYAML is not strictly required as PyYAML will work with pure python (albeit slower)

Bonlenfum Over a year ago

@phil294 you are right - it is a shame. When I wrote this answer in 2013, there were about 10 results for yaml in PyPI; today there are >4500; >750 matches for "pyyaml". In the comments to how does pip search work, we find that pip only returns the first 100 results, due to the PyPI api. But that is an explanation for the problem, not a method to solve the issue of selecting an appropriate package sadly. Would be v happy for suggestions of what to incorporate in the answer

Hilton Fernandes Over a year ago

There was a change, @keithpjolley: pip doesn't allow search anymore. :D Another point is that many pytonistas seeem to prefer ruamel.yaml, instead of pyyaml.

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Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-23 11:47:22Z

pip install pyyaml

If you don't have pip, run easy_install pip to install pip, which is the go-to package installer - Why use pip over easy_install?. If you prefer to stick with easy_install, then easy_install pyyaml

tutuDajuju · Accepted Answer · 2021-10-23 13:24:55Z

This answers if for MacOS

Update: Nowadays installing is done with pip, and for many users a wheel may be available (depending on your Mac and required version of PyYaml). In some cases libyaml is still required to build the C extension (on mac); this can be done with:

brew install libyaml python -m pip install pyyaml

Outdated method:

For MacOSX (mavericks), the following works:

brew install libyaml sudo python -m easy_install pyyaml

This is the only working answer for OS X Yosemite when I tried.
This worked for me on Yosemite, but only with brew's python 2.7.9, not OS X python 2.7.6.
This was the only working answer for OS X Lion when I tried. Thanks so much! I thought it wasn't working because I was using a 2011 operating system in 2020.

wim · Accepted Answer · 2018-01-16 05:07:02Z

25

pip install PyYAML

If libyaml is not found or compiled PyYAML can do without it on Mavericks.

edited Jan 16, 2018 at 5:07

wim

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answered May 12, 2014 at 15:58

bbaassssiiee

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2 Comments

hengxin Over a year ago

On Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, I got the error libyaml is not found or a compiler error: forcing --without-libyaml when using sudo pip install PyYAML. What should I do? Thanks.

hengxin Over a year ago

However, I said Successfully installed PyYAML. See pip-PyYAML for complete information. Thanks again.

Anthon · Accepted Answer · 2019-02-19 18:54:05Z

There are three YAML capable packages. Syck (pip install syck) which implements the YAML 1.0 specification from 2002; PyYAML (pip install pyyaml) which follows the YAML 1.1 specification from 2004; and ruamel.yaml which follows the latest (YAML 1.2, from 2009) specification.

You can install the YAML 1.2 compatible package with pip install ruamel.yaml or if you are running a modern version of Debian/Ubuntu (or derivative) with:

sudo apt-get install python-ruamel.yaml

Skandix · Accepted Answer · 2019-02-19 19:54:47Z

10

following command will download pyyaml, which also includes yaml

pip install pyYaml

edited Feb 19, 2019 at 19:54

Skandix

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answered Feb 19, 2019 at 18:56

Ankit Shukla

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Comments

hbadger · Accepted Answer · 2016-08-12 13:11:24Z

Debian-based systems:

$ sudo aptitude install python-yaml

or newer for python3

$ sudo aptitude install python3-yaml

harperville · Accepted Answer · 2018-07-25 13:52:57Z

"There should be one -- and preferably only one -- obvious way to do it." So let me add another one. This one is more like "install from sources" for Debian/Ubuntu, from https://github.com/yaml/pyyaml

Install the libYAML and it's headers:

sudo apt-get install libyaml-dev

Download the pyyaml sources:

wget http://pyyaml.org/download/pyyaml/PyYAML-3.13.tar.gz

Install from sources, (don't forget to activate your venv):

. your/env/bin/activate tar xzf PyYAML-3.13.tar.gz cd PyYAML-3.13.tar.gz (env)$ python setup.py install (env)$ python setup.py test

This was the only method that led me to correctly install the CLoaders on MacOS. I previously tried brew install libyaml & pip install pyyaml but, python -c 'from yaml import CSafeLoader' kept failing

Connor · Accepted Answer · 2021-10-25 02:57:25Z

Consider using strictyaml instead

If you have the luxury of creating the yaml file yourself, or if you don't require any of these features of regular yaml, I recommend using strictyaml instead of the standard pyyaml package.

In short, default yaml has some serious flaws in terms of security, interface, and predictability. strictyaml is a subset of the yaml spec that does not have those issues (and is better documented).

You can read more about the problems with regular yaml here

OPINION: strictyaml should be the default implementation of yaml and the old yaml spec should be obsoleted.

Mayank Jaiswal · Accepted Answer · 2018-01-18 12:44:21Z

2

For me, installing development version of libyaml did it.

yum install libyaml-devel #centos apt-get install libyaml-dev # ubuntu

edited Jan 18, 2018 at 12:44

answered Jan 18, 2018 at 11:27

Mayank Jaiswal

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3 Comments

George Sovetov Over a year ago

Please, include explanations that it's system-wide Python installation, tha tit's x86-64 architecture, that there should be similar command for APT...

Mayank Jaiswal Over a year ago

@GeorgeSovetov Done

Amir Over a year ago

@MayankJaiswal How would you install the development version for Python 3?

hailuodev · Accepted Answer · 2022-08-05 01:36:42Z

👇️ in a virtual environment or using Python 2

pip install pyyaml

👇️ for python 3 (could also be pip3.10 depending on your version)

pip3 install pyyaml

👇️ if you get permissions error

sudo pip3 install pyyaml

👇️ if you don't have pip in your PATH environment variable

python -m pip install pyyaml

👇️ for python 3 (could also be pip3.10 depending on your version)

python3 -m pip install pyyaml

👇️ for Anaconda

conda install -c conda-forge pyyaml

Md Ruman Islam · Accepted Answer · 2024-02-19 08:08:18Z

If you're running Python scripts with sudo and facing module import errors, it's likely due to sudo not preserving the PYTHONPATH from your Conda environment. To fix this, explicitly set the PYTHONPATH to include your Conda environment's site-packages directory before running your script with sudo. Here's how:

export PYTHONPATH="/home/enviornment_name/miniconda3/envs/car/lib/python2.7/site-packages:$PYTHONPATH"

Gurshan Sekhon · Accepted Answer · 2020-09-14 22:07:34Z

0

Type in pip3 install yaml or like Connor pip3 install strictyaml

answered Sep 14, 2020 at 22:07

Gurshan Sekhon

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3 Comments

publicdomain Over a year ago

Welcome to StackOverflow! You shouldn't answer old questions, especially if they already have 10 answers and are pretty old, unless you have something important to add, which does not seem the case here. Provide answers to newer questions, that way you will also be able to comment on posts (once you have sufficient reputation)

Gurshan Sekhon Over a year ago

Sorry, I'm new to asking on Stackoverflow

publicdomain Over a year ago

Don't worry, in February I was exactly where you are now... it takes some time to get used to the system but you can profit from it a lot : )

Eric Aya · Accepted Answer · 2024-03-14 14:42:48Z

The other answers didn't work for me because I didn't have root privileges on the machine I was working on. A colleague suggested the below command which worked. This installs the pyyaml package for the current logged in user.

python3 -m pip install --user PyYAML

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This answers if for MacOS

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Consider using strictyaml instead

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👇️ in a virtual environment or using Python 2

👇️ for python 3 (could also be pip3.10 depending on your version)

👇️ if you get permissions error

👇️ if you don't have pip in your PATH environment variable

👇️ for python 3 (could also be pip3.10 depending on your version)

👇️ for Anaconda

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This answers if for MacOS

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Consider using strictyaml instead

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👇️ in a virtual environment or using Python 2

👇️ for python 3 (could also be pip3.10 depending on your version)

👇️ if you get permissions error

👇️ if you don't have pip in your PATH environment variable

👇️ for python 3 (could also be pip3.10 depending on your version)

👇️ for Anaconda

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