Detect python version in shell script

Question

I\'d like to detect if python is installed on a Linux system and if it is, which python version is installed.

How can I do it? Is there something more graceful than

Answer 1

You can use the platform module which is part of the standard Python library:

$ python -c 'import platform; print(platform.python_version())'
2.6.9

This module allows you to print only a part of the version string:

$ python -c 'import platform; major, minor, patch = platform.python_version_tuple(); print(major); print(minor); print(patch)'
2
6
9