Switch Python Version for Vim & Syntastic

Question

Is it possible to change the python version used by syntastic for syntax checking?

As the Issue https://github.com/scrooloose/syntastic/issues/385 indicates I could

Answer 1

Just to iterate on Zaar Hai's script a bit, something like this should work and be a bit more robust.

#!/usr/bin/env bash

_python=$(command -v python)

[[ "$(uname -s)" =~ Darwin ]] && IS_OSX=true

if [[ "$IS_OSX" ]]; then
    if command -v 'greadlink' >/dev/null 2>&1; then
        greadlink -f "$_python"
    else
        echo 'Install coreutils!' >&2
    fi
else
    readlink -f "$_python"
fi

Answer 2

In spite of all the answers here, I still find the recommendation from the FAQ to be the best. I have added this to my .vimrc so that I can easily switch between python versions.

function Py2()
  let g:syntastic_python_python_exec = '/usr/local/bin/python2.7'
endfunction

function Py3()
  let g:syntastic_python_python_exec = '/usr/local/bin/python3.6'
endfunction

call Py3()   " default to Py3 because I try to use it when possible

With those functions installed, it's easy to switch python version right within vim with :call Py2() or :call Py3() depending on what I need at the moment. No need to exit vim and activate a different virtualenv as the popular answer would have you do.