name : python-option.md # Managing a different Python interpreter ```{versionadded} 22.3 ``` Occasionally, you may want to use pip to manage a Python installation other than the one pip is installed into. In this case, you can use the `--python` option to specify the interpreter you want to manage. This option can take one of two values: 1. The path to a Python executable. 2. The path to a virtual environment. In both cases, pip will run exactly as if it had been invoked from that Python environment. One example of where this might be useful is to manage a virtual environment that does not have pip installed. ```{pip-cli} $ python -m venv .venv --without-pip $ pip --python .venv install SomePackage [...] Successfully installed SomePackage ``` You could also use `--python .venv/bin/python` (or on Windows, `--python .venv\Scripts\python.exe`) if you wanted to be explicit, but the virtual environment name is shorter and works exactly the same.