Pip uninstall all packages windows

asked Jun 28, 2012 at 15:36

I’ve found this snippet as an alternative solution. It’s a more graceful removal of libraries than remaking the virtualenv:

pip freeze | xargs pip uninstall -y

In case you have packages installed via VCS, you need to exclude those lines and remove the packages manually (elevated from the comments below):

pip freeze | grep -v "^-e" | xargs pip uninstall -y

If you have packages installed directly from github/gitlab, those will have @.
Like:

django @ git+https://github.com/django.git@<sha>

You can add cut -d "@" -f1 to get just the package name that is required to uninstall it.

pip freeze | cut -d "@" -f1 | xargs pip uninstall -y

This will work for all Mac, Windows, and Linux systems.
To get the list of all pip packages in the requirements.txt file (Note: This will overwrite requirements.txt if exist else will create the new one, also if you don’t want to replace old requirements.txt then give different file name in the all following command in place requirements.txt).

pip freeze > requirements.txt

Now to remove one by one

pip uninstall -r requirements.txt

If we want to remove all at once then

pip uninstall -r requirements.txt -y

If you’re working on an existing project that has a requirements.txt file and your environment has diverged, simply replace requirements.txt from the above examples with toberemoved.txt. Then, once you have gone through the steps above, you can use the requirements.txt to update your now clean environment.

And For single command without creating any file as @joeb suggested

pip uninstall -y -r <(pip freeze)

I wanted to elevate this answer out of a comment section because it’s one of the most elegant solutions in the thread. Full credit for this answer goes to @joeb.

pip uninstall -y -r <(pip freeze)

This worked great for me for the use case of clearing my user packages folder outside the context of a virtualenv which many of the above answers don’t handle.

Edit: Anyone know how to make this command work in a Makefile?

Bonus: A bash alias

I add this to my bash profile for convenience:

alias pipuninstallall="pip uninstall -y -r <(pip freeze)"

Then run:

pipuninstallall

Alternative for Pipenv

If you are using pipenv, you can run:

pipenv uninstall --all

Alternative for Poetry

If you are using Poetry, run:

poetry env remove --python3.9

(Note that you need to change the version number there to match whatever your Python version is.)

answered Mar 9, 2018 at 18:51

This works with the latest. I think it’s the shortest and most declarative way to do it.

virtualenv --clear MYENV

But why not just delete and recreate the virtualenv?

Immutability rules. Besides it’s hard to remember all those piping and grepping the other solutions use.

answered Jul 26, 2012 at 15:15

I managed it by doing the following:

1. Create the requirements file called reqs.txt with currently installed packages list

pip freeze > reqs.txt

1. Then uninstall all the packages from reqs.txt

# -y means remove the package without prompting for confirmation
pip uninstall -y -r reqs.txt

I like this method as you always have a pip requirements file to fall back on should you make a mistake. It’s also repeatable, and it’s cross-platform (Windows, Linux, MacOs).

answered Oct 29, 2019 at 11:32

Other answers that use pip list or pip freeze must include --local else it will also uninstall packages that are found in the common namespaces.

So here are the snippet I regularly use

 pip freeze --local | xargs pip uninstall -y

Ref: pip freeze --help

answered Aug 3, 2017 at 4:49

Method 1 (with pip freeze)

pip freeze | xargs pip uninstall -y

Method 2 (with pip list)

pip list | awk '{print $1}' | xargs pip uninstall -y

Method 3 (with virtualenv)

virtualenv --clear MYENV

On Windows if your path is configured correctly, you can use:

pip freeze > unins && pip uninstall -y -r unins && del unins

It should be a similar case for Unix-like systems:

pip freeze > unins && pip uninstall -y -r unins && rm unins

Just a warning that this isn’t completely solid as you may run into issues such as ‘File not found’ but it may work in some cases nonetheless

EDIT: For clarity: unins is an arbitrary file which has data written out to it when this command executes: pip freeze > unins

That file that it written in turn is then used to uninstall the aforementioned packages with implied consent/prior approval via pip uninstall -y -r unins

The file is finally deleted upon completion.

answered Dec 6, 2015 at 14:01

I use the —user option to uninstall all the packages installed in the user site.

pip3 freeze --user | xargs pip3 uninstall -y

For Windows users, this is what I use on Windows PowerShell

 pip uninstall -y (pip freeze)

answered Mar 23, 2018 at 12:57

First, add all package to requirements.txt

pip freeze > requirements.txt

Then remove all

pip uninstall -y -r requirements.txt 

answered Jan 8, 2019 at 10:03

Best way to remove all packages from the virtual environment.

Windows PowerShell:

pip freeze > unins ; pip uninstall -y -r unins ; del unins

Windows Command Prompt:

pip freeze > unins && pip uninstall -y -r unins && del unins

Linux:

pip3 freeze > unins ; pip3 uninstall -y -r unins ; rm unins

answered Sep 14, 2022 at 18:40

The quickest way is to remake the virtualenv completely. I’m assuming you have a requirements.txt file that matches production, if not:

# On production:
pip freeze > reqs.txt

# On your machine:
rm $VIRTUALENV_DIRECTORY
mkdir $VIRTUALENV_DIRECTORY
pip install -r reqs.txt

answered Sep 10, 2016 at 4:50

CraicerjackCraicerjack

6,2132 gold badges31 silver badges39 bronze badges

pip3 freeze --local | xargs pip3 uninstall -y

The case might be that one has to run this command several times to get an empty pip3 freeze --local.

answered Oct 17, 2019 at 18:26

pip uninstall `pip freeze --user`

The --user option prevents system-installed packages from being included in the listing, thereby avoiding /usr/lib and distutils permission errors.

answered Jan 3 at 0:25

answered Jun 18, 2017 at 20:06

SohailAQSohailAQ

1,0021 gold badge13 silver badges25 bronze badges

Samuel MarksSamuel Marks

1,6411 gold badge20 silver badges27 bronze badges

answered Apr 19, 2021 at 18:53

answered Aug 12, 2022 at 18:15

Fei XieFei Xie

1071 silver badge2 bronze badges

punkrockpollypunkrockpolly

9,3206 gold badges36 silver badges37 bronze badges

verbozeverboze

4191 gold badge7 silver badges10 bronze badges

Select Libraries To Delete From This Folder:

C:\Users\User\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python310\Lib\site-packages

answered Dec 11, 2021 at 9:05