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     version 2 7 5   python3 3     version 3 3   How do I set it so that every time I run   python it opens 3 3

User · Answer

You can solve it by symbolic link   unlink  usr local bin python ln -s  usr local bin python3 3  usr local bin python

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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  - gt     Cellar python 3 7 4 1 bin python3 lrwxr-xr-x  1 username  admin  43 Oct  1 13 35  usr local bin python3-config  - gt     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  - gt     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  - gt     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  - gt     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  - gt     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

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Mac users just need to run the following code on terminal   brew switch python 3 x x   3 x x should be the new python version   This will update all the system links

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Changing the default python executable s version system-wide could break some applications that depend on python2   However  you can alias the commands in most shells  Since the default shells in macOS  bash in 10 14 and below  zsh in 10 15  share a similar syntax  You could put      alias python  python3  in your    profile  and then source    profile in your    bash profile and or  your   zsh profile with a line like     -e    profile    amp  amp       profile   This way  your alias will work across shells   With this  python command now invokes python3  If you want to invoke the  original  python  that refers to python2  on occasion  you can use command python  which will leaving the alias untouched  and works in all shells   If you launch interpreters more often  I do   you can always create more aliases to add as well  i e    alias 2  python2  alias 3  python3      Tip  For scripts  instead of using a shebang like      usr bin env python   use      usr bin env python3   This way  the system will use python3 for running python executables

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For me the solution was using PyCharm and setting the default python version to the the one that i need to work with   install PyCharm and go to file     preferences for new project  then choose the interpreter you want for your projects  in this case python 3 3

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If you are using a virtualenvwrapper  you can just locate it using which virtualenvwrapper sh  then open it using vim or any other editor then change the following     Locate the global Python where virtualenvwrapper is installed  if      VIRTUALENVWRAPPER PYTHON -          then     VIRTUALENVWRAPPER PYTHON    command  which python   fi   Change the line VIRTUALENVWRAPPER PYTHON    command  which python   to VIRTUALENVWRAPPER PYTHON    command  which python3

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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  quot  Library Frameworks Python framework Versions 3 8 bin   PATH  quot  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

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sudo ln -s -f   which python3    which python    done

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Go to terminal type   alias python python3 x   This will setup default python as python3 x

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I believe most of people landed here are using ZSH thorugh iterm or whatever  and that brings you to this answer   You have to add modify your commands in    zshrc instead

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Go to  Applications   enter  Python  folder  there should be a bash script called  Update Shell Profile command  or similar  Run that script and it should do it   Update  It looks like you should not update it  how to change default python version

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This worked for me  I added alias and restarted my terminal   alias python  usr local bin python3

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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

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I think when you install python it puts export path statements into your    bash profile file  So if you do not intend to use Python 2 anymore you can just remove that statement from there  Alias as stated above is also a great way to do it   Here is how to remove the reference from    bash profile  - vim    bash profile - remove the reference  AKA something like  export PATH   Users bla anaconda  PATH   - save and exit - source    bash profile to save the changes

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I m not sure if this is available on OS X  but on linux I would make use of the module command   See here   Set up the modulefile correctly  then add something like this to your rc file  e g     bashrc    module load python3 3   This will make it so that your paths get switched around as required when you log in without impacting any system defaults

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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

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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

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If you use macports  you do not need to play with aliases or environment variables  just use the method macports already offers  explained by this Q amp A  How to  Macports select python TL DR  sudo port select --set python python27

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The RIGHT and WRONG way to set Python 3 as default on a Mac  In this article author discuss three ways of setting default python    What NOT to do  What we COULD do  but also shouldn t   What we SHOULD do    All these ways are working  You decide which is better

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The following worked for me  cd  usr local bin mv python python old ln -s python3 python

User · Answer

If you are using macports  that has a easier way to do   run   port install python37  after install  set default   sudo port select --set python python37  sudo port select --set python3 python37  restart your cmd window  finished

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