Ways of installing python module

Question

I'm new to python, about a month.

I know installing python modules can be done by using pip or easy_install. But when I was trying to install the regex module it gave me an error.

Typing pip install re in cmd gave me the following errors;

ERROR: Could not find a version that satisfies the requirement re (from versions: none)

ERROR: No matching distribution found for re

So I went to PyPI and downloaded a file there and now PyCharm doesn't give error when I import the module anymore.

So are there any difference between these ways of downloading Python modules or it doesn't matter ?

I'm using Windows 10 and have Python 3.8 and 3.8.1.

• Hymns For Disco: re is included in the python standard library. Why are you trying to install it with pip?

Answer 1

re is a built-in module, therefore you are not required to install this with pip.

Python Built-In Modules

Answer 2

re is part of the Python standard library so there is no need to install it separately. There are many ways to 'install' a package, e.g. using easy_install, pipx, venv, poetry, etc., but pip install --user is likely the way you're going to want to go to get started until you run into a compelling reason to explore other options. Either way, all these tools are essentially just various ways to move packages into PYTHONPATH, the place that Python looks for packages by default.