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How to Update Google Colabs Python Version

In this blog, we’ll explore Google Colab, a cloud-based development environment offering free access to a Jupyter notebook environment. It enables users to execute Python code on Google’s servers, making it a popular choice among developers, data scientists, and researchers for tasks such as machine learning, data analysis, and other computational activities. However, a prevalent challenge encountered in Google Colab is the difficulty in updating the Python version. This post will guide you through the process of updating the Python version in Google Colab, ensuring you can run the latest Python release seamlessly.
By Saturn Cloud | | Miscellaneous | Updated:

Google Colab is a cloud-based development environment that provides free access to a Jupyter notebook environment and allows users to run their Python code on Google’s servers. The platform is widely used by developers, data scientists, and researchers to perform machine learning tasks, data analysis, and other computational tasks. However, one of the most common issues with Google Colab is the inability to update the Python version. In this blog post, we’ll show you how to update Google Colab’s Python version and run the latest version of Python.

Table of Contents

  1. Why Update Google Colab’s Python Version?
  2. How to Update Google Colab’s Python Version
  3. Conclusion

Why Update Google Colab’s Python Version?

Python is a popular programming language, and its latest version includes new features and improvements that can significantly improve your coding experience. Updating Google Colab’s Python version ensures that you have access to the latest features, bug fixes, and performance enhancements. Additionally, some libraries and packages may require a specific Python version to run correctly, and updating to the latest version ensures that you can use these packages without any issues.

How to Update Google Colab’s Python Version

Updating Google Colab’s Python version is a simple process that can be done in just a few steps. Here’s how to do it:

Step 1: Check Your Python Version

Before updating your Python version, you need to check which version of Python is currently installed on your Google Colab instance. You can do this by running the following command in a code cell:

!python --version

This command will output the current Python version installed on Google Colab. If you’re not running the latest version of Python, you can proceed to the next step.

As the moment of writing this article, the default Python version in Google Colab is as follow:

Python 3.10.12

Step 2: Install the Latest Version of Python

To install the latest version of Python, you need to run the following command in a code cell:

!apt-get install python3.12

This command installs Python 3.12, the latest version of Python at the time of writing this blog post. If you prefer to install a different version of Python, you can replace “python3.9” with the version you want to install.

Step 3: Verify the Installed Python Version

After installing the latest version of Python, you need to verify that it’s installed correctly. To do this, run the following command in a code cell:

!python3.12 --version

This command will output the version of Python that you just installed. If the output matches the version you installed, you’re good to go.

Output:

Python 3.12.1

Step 4: Set the Python Version

By default, Google Colab uses the system Python version, which may not be the version you just installed. To set the newly installed Python version as the default version, you need to run the following command in a code cell:

!sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/python3 python3 /usr/bin/python3.10 1
!sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/python3 python3 /usr/bin/python3.12 2

This command removes the system Python version from the path and adds the path to the newly installed Python version. This ensures that when you run Python code in Google Colab, it uses the newly installed version.

Step 5: Verify the Default Python Version

Finally, we can verify that Python 3.12 has been set as the default version of Google Colab.

!python --version

Output:

Python 3.12.1

Conclusion

Updating Google Colab’s Python version is a simple process that can be done in just a few steps. By updating to the latest version of Python, you can take advantage of the latest features and improvements, ensure that your code is compatible with the latest packages and libraries, and improve your coding experience on Google Colab. We hope this blog post has helped you update your Python version on Google Colab. Happy coding!

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