PyQt is often not installed by default. The PyQt module can be used to create desktop applications with Python. In this article you’ll learn how to install the PyQt module.
Desktop applications made with PyQt are cross platform, they will work on Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac OS X and Linux computers (including Raspberry Pi).
Related Course: Create GUI Apps with Python PyQt5
How to install PyQt5 on Windows?
To install PyQt on Windows there are a few steps you need to take.
First use the installer from the qt-project website, from qt to install PyQt.
Next you want to install a Python version 3.3 or newer. Check the box to add all of the PyQt5 extras. It’s not necessary to compile everything from source, you can install all the required packages with the installer.
On Python >= 3.6, you can also try this command:
1 | pip install pyqt5 |
It should work without problems.
How to install PyQt5 on Mac OS X?
On Apple Mac OS X installation is a bit simpler. The first step to take is to install the Mac OS X binary. This installs the PyQt GUI library.
But to use it from Python, you also need Python module. This is where the tool brew comes in.
You can use brew to install pyqt (in the terminal):
1 | brew install pyqt |
How to install PyQt5 on Linux?
Python is often installed by default on Linux (in nearly all of the distributions including Ubuntu). But you want to make sure to use Python 3, because of all the features and ease of use. You can verify that you have the newest Python version with the command:
1 | python --version |
On Ubuntu Linux they sometimes include two versions of python, python3 and python. In that case use Python 3.
Once you have Python ready, the next step is to install PyQt.
This isn’t hard to do if you have some Linux experience. You can install PyQt your software package manager. Which package manager to use depends on which Linux distribution you are using.
On Ubuntu Linux / Debian Linux you can use the command:
1 | sudo apt-get install python3-pyqt5 |
For CentOS 7 use the command:
1 | yum install qt5-qtbase-devel |
For RPM-based systems (Redhat-based)
1 | yum install PyQt5 |
If you are new to Python PyQt, then I highly recommend this book.