How to Install `ptyprocess` in Python

v0.7.0 CLI & Utilities

Run a subprocess in a pseudo terminal

Install pip install ptyprocess

What is ptyprocess?

Run a subprocess in a pseudo terminal

Launch a subprocess in a pseudo terminal (pty), and interact with both the process and its pty.

Sometimes, piping stdin and stdout is not enough. There might be a password prompt that doesn't read from stdin, output that changes when it's going to a pipe rather than a terminal, or curses-style interfaces that rely on a terminal. If you need to automate these things, running the process in a pseudo terminal (pty) is the answer.

p = PtyProcessUnicode.spawn(['python']) p.read(20) p.write('6+6\n') p.read(20)

Documentation → PyPI page → Author: Thomas Kluyver

Quick Start

Minimal example to get started with ptyprocess:

import ptyprocess

print(ptyprocess.__version__)

Installation

pip (standard)

pip install ptyprocess

Virtual environment (recommended)

python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate   # Windows: venv\Scripts\activate
pip install ptyprocess

pip3

pip3 install ptyprocess

conda

conda install -c conda-forge ptyprocess

Poetry

poetry add ptyprocess

Verify the Installation

After installing, confirm the package is available:

python -c "import ptyprocess; print(ptyprocess.__version__)"

If this prints a version number, installation succeeded. If you see a ModuleNotFoundError, see the errors section below.

Installation Errors

Common errors when installing ptyprocess with pip.

ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'ptyprocess'

Cause: The package is not installed in the current Python environment.

Fix: Run pip install ptyprocess. If using a virtual environment, ensure it is activated first.

ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'ptyprocess' (installed but still failing)

Cause: pip installed the package into a different Python than the one running your script.

Fix: Use python -m pip install ptyprocess to install into the interpreter you are running.

ImportError: cannot import name 'X' from 'ptyprocess'

Cause: The function or class does not exist in the installed version.

Fix: Check the version with pip show ptyprocess and upgrade with pip install --upgrade ptyprocess.

pip: command not found

Cause: pip is not in PATH or Python was not added to PATH during installation.

Fix: Try python -m pip install ptyprocess. On macOS/Linux try pip3.

PermissionError: [Errno 13] Permission denied

Cause: No write access to the system Python package directory.

Fix: Use a virtual environment, or add --user: pip install --user ptyprocess

SSL: CERTIFICATE_VERIFY_FAILED

Cause: pip cannot verify PyPI's SSL certificate — common behind corporate proxies.

Fix: Try: pip install --trusted-host pypi.org --trusted-host files.pythonhosted.org ptyprocess

Recent Releases

Version	Released
`0.7.0` latest	2020-12-28
`0.6.0`	2018-06-22
`0.5.2`	2017-06-22
`0.5.1`	2016-02-02
`0.5`	2015-05-20

Full release history on PyPI →

Manage ptyprocess

Upgrade to latest version

pip install --upgrade ptyprocess

Install a specific version

pip install ptyprocess==0.7.0

Uninstall

pip uninstall ptyprocess

Check what is installed

pip show ptyprocess

Last updated: 2026-04-11 • Data from PyPI

How to Install ptyprocess in Python