six

Python 2 and 3 compatibility utilities

six Permissive license MIT Active ★ 1,025 v1.17.0 released 2024-12-04

Install

six on PyPI

pip

pip install six

uv

uv add six

poetry

poetry add six

Package facts

License	MIT (permissive)
Python support	supports the current Python release (!=3.0.,!=3.1.,!=3.2.*,>=2.7)
Install friction	low — pure-Python wheel
Runtime dependencies	none
Maintenance	actively maintained — 617 days since the last release
Last repo commit	2026-02-23
First released	2010-06-29
Popularity	one of the 100 most-downloaded packages on PyPI (30-day window, as of 2026-08-13)
Known vulnerabilities	none known (OSV.dev, checked 2026-08-13)

Evidence: six-1.17.0-py2.py3-none-any.whl

Development Status :: 5 - Production/StableIntended Audience :: DevelopersLicense :: OSI Approved :: MIT LicenseProgramming Language :: Python :: 2Programming Language :: Python :: 3Topic :: Software Development :: LibrariesTopic :: Utilities

About six

from the package's own PyPI description — quoted content, verbatim

.. image:: https://img.shields.io/pypi/v/six.svg :target: https://pypi.org/project/six/ :alt: six on PyPI

.. image:: https://readthedocs.org/projects/six/badge/?version=latest :target: https://six.readthedocs.io/ :alt: six's documentation on Read the Docs

.. image:: https://img.shields.io/badge/license-MIT-green.svg :target: https://github.com/benjaminp/six/blob/master/LICENSE :alt: MIT License badge

Six is a Python 2 and 3 compatibility library. It provides utility functions for smoothing over the differences between the Python versions with the goal of writing Python code that is compatible on both Python versions. See the documentation for more information on what is provided.

Six supports Python 2.7 and 3.3+. It is contained in only one Python file, so it can be easily copied into your project. (The copyright and license notice must be retained.)

Online documentation is at https://six.readthedocs.io/.

Bugs can be reported to https://github.com/benjaminp/six. The code can also be found there.

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AI interpretation — verify before relying

AI-generated interpretation of the package facts above; every digit, version, license, or vulnerability id it cites is grounded in the facts already shown on this page

Six provides utility functions to write Python code that runs on both Python 2.7 and Python 3.3+, abstracting away language differences between the two versions.

Extremely low friction: pure Python wheel with zero runtime dependencies. Actively maintained with last commit on 2026-02-23 and latest release on 2024-12-04.

MIT license is permissive; you may use, modify, and distribute freely in commercial and open-source projects provided you retain the copyright and license notice.

Usage

pip install six==1.17.0

import six
if six.PY2:
    print('Running on Python 2')
else:
    print('Running on Python 3')

Requires Python 2.7 or Python 3.3+; Python 3.0, 3.1, and 3.2 are explicitly unsupported.

Verdict: Six is a mature, zero-dependency compatibility library in the top 100 PyPI packages with no known vulnerabilities and active maintenance. It remains useful for codebases supporting both Python 2.7 and Python 3.3+.

Needs verification

Current adoption patterns and whether six is still actively used in new projects versus primarily maintained for legacy codebases.

python 2 3 compatibilitycross-version python utilitiespython version abstractionwrite once run both pythonspython compatibility layerpython 2 to 3 migration