---
id: future
version: "1.0.0"
license: MIT
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: active
---

# future — Clean single-source support for Python 3 and 2

License: permissive · Maintenance: active · Popularity: top 1,000 on PyPI

## Install

pip install future
uv add future
poetry add future

## Description

future: Easy, safe support for Python 2/3 compatibility
=======================================================

``future`` is the missing compatibility layer between Python 2 and Python
3. It allows you to use a single, clean Python 3.x-compatible codebase to
support both Python 2 and Python 3 with minimal overhead.

It is designed to be used as follows::

    from __future__ import (absolute_import, division,
                            print_function, unicode_literals)
    from builtins import (
             bytes, dict, int, list, object, range, str,
             ascii, chr, hex, input, next, oct, open,
             pow, round, super,
             filter, map, zip)

followed by predominantly standard, idiomatic Python 3 code that then runs
similarly on Python 2.6/2.7 and Python 3.3+.

The imports have no effect on Python 3. On Python 2, they shadow the
corresponding builtins, which normally have different semantics on Python 3
versus 2, to provide their Python 3 semantics.


Standard library reorganization
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

``future`` supports the standard library reorganization (PEP 3108) through the
following Py3 interfaces:

    >>> # Top-level packages...

## AI interpretation — verify before relying

Provides Python 3 compatibility shims and backported builtins to write single-source code that runs on both Python 2 and Python 3, plus a conversion tool (futurize) to aid migration.

Verdict: Stable, actively maintained compatibility layer with zero security vulnerabilities and no install friction. Suitable for projects needing to support both Python 2 and 3 from a single codebase, though Python 2 itself is end-of-life and this package is primarily valuable for legacy codebases or gradual migration scenarios.

[View on SkillFed](https://skillfed.io/packages/future) · [View on PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/future/)