How to use 2to3 properly for python?
It's important to have a backup before running
2to3
.
- If you're using git, make a commit.
- Otherwise, make a backup copy of your files.
First, run 2to3 in "soft mode" to see what it would actually do:
$ 2to3 /path/to/your/project
If you're happy with what it would do, you can then run 2to3 "for real":
$ 2to3 --write --nobackups /path/to/your/project
And now you have properly run 2to3
:)
Install the following module which adds the 2to3 command directly to entry_points.
pip install 2to3
As it is written on 2to3 docs, to translate an entire project from one directory tree to another, use:
2to3 --output-dir=python3-version/mycode -W -n python2-version/mycode
If you don't have 2to3
on your path, you can directly invoke lib2to3
:
python -m lib2to3 directory\file.py
And as the docs (and other answers) mention, you can use some flags for more customization:
- the
-w
flag to enable writeback, which applies the changes to the file - the
-n
to disable backups
(there are a few more flags; see the docs for more information.)