Python Dependency Manager Companion

(requirements-file-format)= # Requirements File Format Requirements files serve as a list of items to be installed by pip, when using {ref}`pip install`. Files that use this format are often called "pip requirements.txt files", since `requirements.txt` is usually what these files are named (although, that is not a requirement). ```{note} The requirements file format is closely tied to a number of internal details of pip (e.g., pip's command line options). The basic format is relatively stable and portable but the full syntax, as described here, is only intended for consumption by pip, and other tools should take that into account before using it for their own purposes. ``` ## Example ``` # This is a comment, to show how #-prefixed lines are ignored. # It is possible to specify requirements as plain names. pytest pytest-cov beautifulsoup4 # The syntax supported here is the same as that of requirement specifiers. docopt == 0.6.1 requests [security] >= 2.8.1, == 2.8.* ; python_version < "2.7" urllib3 @ https://github.com/urllib3/urllib3/archive/refs/tags/1.26.8.zip # It is possible to refer to other requirement files or constraints files. -r other-requirements.txt -c constraints.txt # It is possible to refer to specific local distribution paths. ./downloads/numpy-1.9.2-cp34-none-win32.whl # It is possible to refer to URLs. http://wxpython.org/Phoenix/snapshot-builds/wxPython_Phoenix-3.0.3.dev1820+49a8884-cp34-none-win_amd64.whl ``` ## Structure Each line of the requirements file indicates something to be installed, or arguments to {ref}`pip install`. The following forms are supported: - `[[--option]...]` - `<requirement specifier>` - `<archive url/path>` - `[-e] <local project path>` - `[-e] <vcs project url>` For details on requirement specifiers, see {ref}`Requirement Specifiers`. For examples of all these forms, see {ref}`pip install Examples`. ### Encoding The default encoding for requirement files is `UTF-8` unless a different encoding is specified using a {pep}`263` style comment (e.g. `# -*- coding: <encoding name> -*-`). ### Line continuations A line ending in an unescaped `\` is treated as a line continuation and the newline following it is effectively ignored. ### Comments A line that begins with `#` is treated as a comment and ignored. Whitespace followed by a `#` causes the `#` and the remainder of the line to be treated as a comment. Comments are stripped _after_ line continuations are processed. ## Supported options Requirements files only supports certain pip install options, which are listed below. ### Global options The following options have an effect on the _entire_ `pip install` run, and must be specified on their individual lines. ```{eval-rst} .. pip-requirements-file-options-ref-list:: ``` ````{admonition} Example To specify {ref}`--pre <install_--pre>`, {ref}`--no-index <install_--no-index>` and two {ref}`--find-links <install_--find-links>` locations: ``` --pre --no-index --find-links /my/local/archives --find-links http://some.archives.com/archives ``` ```` (per-requirement-options)= ### Per-requirement options ```{versionadded} 7.0 ``` The options which can be applied to individual requirements are: - {ref}`--config-settings <install_--config-settings>` - `--hash` (for {ref}`Hash-checking mode`) ## Referring to other requirements files If you wish, you can refer to other requirements files, like this: ``` -r more_requirements.txt ``` You can also refer to {ref}`constraints files <Constraints Files>`, like this: ``` -c some_constraints.txt ``` ## Using environment variables ```{versionadded} 10.0 ``` pip supports the use of environment variables inside the requirements file. You have to use the POSIX format for variable names including brackets around the uppercase name as shown in this example: `${API_TOKEN}`. pip will attempt to find the corresponding environment variable defined on the host system at runtime. ```{note} There is no support for other variable expansion syntaxes such as `$VARIABLE` and `%VARIABLE%`. ``` You can now store sensitive data (tokens, keys, etc.) in environment variables and only specify the variable name for your requirements, letting pip lookup the value at runtime. This approach aligns with the commonly used [12-factor configuration pattern](https://12factor.net/config).