Command "python --verson" using "awk" extract version number

Question

I know following command can show version of python

$ python --version

Result:

Python 3.7.4

I want to extract 3.7.4 only.

So, I attempt to following command using awk

$ python --version | awk '{print $2}'

But result still same as command python --version :

Python 3.7.4

I also try to specify delimiter space:

$ python --version | awk -F' ' '{print $2}'

Result still same as python --version :

Python 3.7.4

How do I do?

Answer 1

the reason is that python prints the output on stderr rather than stdout. Solution e.g.:

python --version 2>&1 | awk '{print $2}'