What version of Python is on my Mac?

Question

I have a mac, when I do:

python --version 

I got:

Python 2.7.6

but when I got to:

/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.3

where is 2.7.6 located ? any advice what should I do?

UPDATE:

$ which -a python python3
/usr/bin/python
/usr/local/bin/python3

$ brew list python python3
Error: No such keg: /usr/local/Cellar/python

$ locate python

WARNING: The locate database (/var/db/locate.database) does not exist.
To create the database, run the following command:



sudo launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.locate.plist

Please be aware that the database can take some time to generate; once
the database has been created, this message will no longer appear.

in PyCharm editor, the default settings interpreter shows:

Answer 1

You could have multiple Python versions on your macOS.

You may check that by command, type or which command, like:

which -a python python2 python2.7 python3 python3.6

Or type python in Terminal and hit Tab few times for auto completion, which is equivalent to:

compgen -c python

By default python/pip commands points to the first binary found in PATH environment variable depending what's actually installed. So before installing Python packages with Homebrew, the default Python is installed in /usr/bin which is shipped with your macOS (e.g. Python 2.7.10 on High Sierra). Any versions found in /usr/local (such as /usr/local/bin) are provided by external packages.

It is generally advised, that when working with multiple versions, for Python 2 you may use python2/pip2 command, respectively for Python 3 you can use python3/pip3, but it depends on your configuration which commands are available.

It is also worth to mention, that since release of Homebrew 1.5.0+ (on 19 January 2018), the python formula has been upgraded to Python 3.x and a python@2 formula will be added for installing Python 2.7. Before, python formula was pointing to Python 2.

For instance, if you've installed different version via Homebrew, try the following command:

brew list python python3

or:

brew list | grep ^python

it'll show you all Python files installed with the package.

Alternatively you may use apropos or locate python command to locate more Python related files.

To check any environment variables related to Python, run:

env | grep ^PYTHON

---

To address your issues:

• Error: No such keg: /usr/local/Cellar/python

  Means you don't have Python installed via Homebrew. However double check by specifying only one package at a time (like brew list python python2 python3).

• The locate database (/var/db/locate.database) does not exist.

  Follow the advice and run:

  sudo launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.locate.plist
  

  After the database is rebuild, you can use locate command.

Answer 2

To check third version, we can use,

python3 --version

To install python on macOS, we need to install command line developer tools. From Catalina, python is removed from OS bundle. For more information, Apple Official and Python Official.

Answer 3

Use below command to see all python installations :

which -a python