How to set Python's default version to 3.x on OS X?

Question

I\'m running Mountain Lion and the basic default Python version is 2.7. I downloaded Python 3.3 and want to set it as default.

Currently:

$ python
           


        

Answer 1

I'm a little late to the game on this one, but I thought I should post an updated answer since I just encountered this issue for myself. Please note that this will only apply to a Mac-based setup (I haven't tried it with Windows or any flavor of Linux).

The simplest way to get this working is to install Python via Brew. If you don't have brew installed, you will need to do that first. Once installed, do the following in at the terminal:

brew install python

This will install Python 3. After it's installed, run this:

ls -l /usr/local/bin/python*

You will see all of the links created by brew to its Python install. It will look something like this:

lrwxr-xr-x  1 username  admin  36 Oct  1 13:35 /usr/local/bin/python3@ -> ../Cellar/python/3.7.4_1/bin/python3
lrwxr-xr-x  1 username  admin  43 Oct  1 13:35 /usr/local/bin/python3-config@ -> ../Cellar/python/3.7.4_1/bin/python3-config
lrwxr-xr-x  1 username  admin  38 Oct  1 13:35 /usr/local/bin/python3.7@ -> ../Cellar/python/3.7.4_1/bin/python3.7
lrwxr-xr-x  1 username  admin  45 Oct  1 13:35 /usr/local/bin/python3.7-config@ -> ../Cellar/python/3.7.4_1/bin/python3.7-config
lrwxr-xr-x  1 username  admin  39 Oct  1 13:35 /usr/local/bin/python3.7m@ -> ../Cellar/python/3.7.4_1/bin/python3.7m
lrwxr-xr-x  1 username  admin  46 Oct  1 13:35 /usr/local/bin/python3.7m-config@ -> ../Cellar/python/3.7.4_1/bin/python3.7m-config

The first row in this example shows the python3 symlink. To set it as the default python symlink run the following:

ln -s -f /usr/local/bin/python3 /usr/local/bin/python

Once set, you can do:

which python

and it should show:

/usr/local/bin/python

You will have to reload your current terminal shell for it to use the new symlink in that shell, however, all newly opened shell sessions will (should) automatically use it. To test this, open a new terminal shell and run the following:

python --version

Answer 2

$ sudo ln -s -f $(which python3) $(which python)

done.

Answer 3

On MacOS

Step-1: Upgrade python to latest version by: $ brew upgrade python

Step-2: Go to home: $ cd

Step-3: open .bash_profile

$ vi .bash_profile

Setting PATH for Python 3.8

PATH="/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.8/bin:${PATH}" export PATH

Step-4: Save the file. And compile it by:

$ . .bash_profile

Step-5: Check the python version:

$ python -V

Step-6: Thats all.

Answer 4

Open ~/.bash_profile file.

vi ~/.bash_profile

Then put the alias as follows:

alias python='python3'

Now save the file and then run the ~/.bash_profile file.

source ~/.bash_profile

Congratulation !!! Now, you can use python3 by typing python.

python --version

Python 3.7.3

Answer 5

Suggestions to alias python to python3 will cause problems with virtual environments that set the version of python (eg: pyenv). With pyenv, you can set the version globally like so:

pyenv global 3.8.2

and then in any specific project, you can create a .python-version file which has the python version inside of it:

pyenv local 2.7.1

This is the best way to manage multiple versions of python on a system in my opinion.

Answer 6

Well... It's kinda old. But still deserves a good answer.

And the good one is You Don't Wanna Touch The Default Python On Mac.

Install any Python version you need via Homebrew or whatever and use it in virtualenv. Virtualenv is often considered to be something crap-like, but it's still way, wayyyy better than changing python version system-wide (macOS is likely to protect itself from such actions) or user-wide, bash-wide... whatever. Just forget about the default Python. Using playgrounds like venv is what your OS will be most, very most grateful for.

The case is, for example, many modern Linux distributions get rid of Python2 installed out-of-the-box, leaving only Python3 in the system. But everytime you try to install something old with python2 as a dependency... hope you understand what I mean. A good developer doesn't care. Good developers create clean playgrounds with python version they desire.