# ERROR: Invalid requirement: 'requests==='

- **ID:** `python/pip-invalid-requirement`
- **Domain:** python
- **Category:** install_error
- **Verification:** ai_generated
- **Fix Rate:** 80%

## Root Cause

The requirement specifier contains a malformed version operator with no version number, causing pip's requirement parser to fail.

## Version Compatibility

| Version | Status | Introduced | Deprecated |
|---------|--------|------------|------------|
| 3.x | active | — | — |

## Workarounds

1. **** (99% success)
   ```
   Replace 'requests===' with a valid specifier, e.g. `pip install 'requests==2.31.0'` or `pip install requests`.
   ```
2. **** (97% success)
   ```
   Use quotes: `pip install 'requests>=2,<3'` so the shell doesn't strip operators.
   ```

## Dead Ends

- **** — Cache is unrelated to parsing the requirement string; the syntax error remains. (95% fail)
- **** — The parser is already correct; the user-supplied requirement string is invalid. (90% fail)