How to install Julia packages via command line

Julia is a programming language suitable for mathematical and computational analysis in data science and machine learning fields. The Julia ecosystem consists of thousands of packages created to perform specific tasks ranging from visualization, computer vision, mathematical computation, as well as machine learning.

To use a package, we need to install it first. There are two ways we can do this on the command line:

1. Install by importing Julia’s package manager, Pkg.
2. Install directly or interactively while on REPL mode.

In this article, we’ll focus on how to install a package in Julia, using these two methods.

Installing using Pkg

Pkg is the package manager for Julia which handles installation, updates, and removal of packages.

1. Identify the package you need. For example, if you need to read a csv file into a data frame, the Queryverse package will suffice.

2. Use import to import Pkg.

import Pkg

3. Use Pkg to install your package.

Pkg.add("Queryverse")

4. Use the package.

using Queryverse
df = DataFrame(load("mydata.csv"))

Installing multiple packages

To install multiple packages, use the .dot notation to provide a list of packages, as shown below.

Pkg.add.(["CSV","Plots"])

Installing unregistered or custom packages.

Installing a package that is not registered is also possible in Julia. All you have to do is provide the URL to the custom package, such as a GitHub repo link. To learn how to create a custom package, click this article.

Pkg.add("url_to_custom_package/example.jl")

Installing a package interactively on Julia’s REPL

Julia’s commandline comes with an interactive mode called the REPL. We can use the REPL to install a package. All we have to do is type a closing bracket ], to enter REPL mode and then proceed. For example, to install Queryverse, type in ] and then use the keyword add.

add Queryverse

This is shown below:

Note: Use the terminal below to install a package. Simply type Julia to start.