There are several ways on how to check what version of CentOS is running on your system. The simplest way to check for the CentOS version number is to execute the cat /etc/centos-release
command. Identifying the accurate CentOS version may be required to help you or your support team to troubleshoot your CentOS system.
To check a version of other Linux distributions visit our how to check Linux version guide.
What is the command to check CentOS version?
The following table contains most common and recommended ways on how to check CentOS version on your CentOS Linux server or desktop.Command | Description |
---|---|
$ rpm -q centos-release | CentOS version valid for CentOS 6 and higher. Causes to reveal major, minor and asynchronous CentOS version. |
$ lsb_release -d | Requires redhat-lsb package to be installed before execution. |
$ rpm -E %{rhel} | RPM macro to reveal a major CentOS version |
$ rpm --eval %{centos_ver} | RPM macro to display a major version of CentOS |
$ cat /etc/centos-release | Linux cat command to output content of the /etc/centos-release to query CentOS version. Works with CentOS 6 and higher. |
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Alternative commands to check CentOS version
In case the above-provided commands did not help you to obtain the CentOS version number you may try the following alternative commands.Although available only for CentOS version 7 and above the
hostnamectl
command might provide you with a significant clue about your OS version number: $ hostnamectl Static hostname: localhost.localdomain Icon name: computer-vm Chassis: vm Machine ID: fe069af6a1764e07be909d7cf64add99 Boot ID: b81bb73dc549484c8927e830e149eb55 Virtualization: kvm Operating System: CentOS Linux 7 (Core) CPE OS Name: cpe:/o:centos:centos:7 Kernel: Linux 3.10.0-862.6.3.el7.x86_64 Architecture: x86-64For more answers try to query all release files within the
/etc
directory: $ cat /etc/*elease CentOS Linux release 7.5.1804 (Core) NAME="CentOS Linux" VERSION="7 (Core)" ID="centos" ID_LIKE="rhel fedora" VERSION_ID="7" PRETTY_NAME="CentOS Linux 7 (Core)" ANSI_COLOR="0;31" CPE_NAME="cpe:/o:centos:centos:7" HOME_URL="https://www.centos.org/" BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.centos.org/" CENTOS_MANTISBT_PROJECT="CentOS-7" CENTOS_MANTISBT_PROJECT_VERSION="7" REDHAT_SUPPORT_PRODUCT="centos" REDHAT_SUPPORT_PRODUCT_VERSION="7" CentOS Linux release 7.5.1804 (Core) CentOS Linux release 7.5.1804 (Core)The system you are running may have macros defined which can help you in identifying the major release version of your CentOS Linux server. Try the following:
$ rpm --eval '%{centos_ver}' 7Lastly, your GRUB boot menu may provide some answers. This is not most reliable way to check for CentOS version however it may provide you with some clues:
# grep -w menuentry /boot/grub2/grub.cfg /etc/grub2.cfg /boot/grub2/grub.cfg:menuentry 'CentOS Linux (3.10.0-862.6.3.el7.x86_64) 7 (Core)' --class centos --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os --unrestricted $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-3.10.0-693.el7.x86_64-advanced-176eba78-e8ec-475d-9086-0d582fcd4305' { ...
Using Programming to check CentOS version
In case you wish to program your way to check the CentOS version automatically you have multiple options available. This section will list some basic examples of how to check CentOS version using Bash script and Python programming language.Bash Script to check CentOS version
The following bash script can be used to obtain the CentOS version number given that the/etc/centos-release
file exists and is populated. The below script serves as an example, feel free to modify wherever appropriate. For more information about Bash Scripting visit our bash scripting tutorial:
#!/bin/bash
full=`cat /etc/centos-release | tr -dc '0-9.'`
major=$(cat /etc/centos-release | tr -dc '0-9.'|cut -d \. -f1)
minor=$(cat /etc/centos-release | tr -dc '0-9.'|cut -d \. -f2)
asynchronous=$(cat /etc/centos-release | tr -dc '0-9.'|cut -d \. -f3)
echo CentOS Version: $full
echo Major Relase: $major
echo Minor Relase: $minor
echo Asynchronous Relase: $asynchronous
Output: $ ./check-centos-version.sh CentOS Version: 7.5.1804 Major Relase: 7 Minor Relase: 5 Asynchronous Relase: 1804
Python program to check CentOS version
The following python script will output the distribution name along with the OS version number:#!/usr/bin/python
import platform
print platform.linux_distribution()
Alternatively, one can execute python code directly from the shell: $ python -c 'import platform; print platform.linux_distribution()'Output:
$ python check-centos-version.py ('CentOS Linux', '7.5.1804', 'Core')