macos - How to set default Python version in terminal on OS X 10.6.8?

Question

I just downloaded python 2.7 on my mac which runs OS X 10.6.8. The previous version of python installed was 2.6.

When I type python in the terminal it opens python version 2.6. I want it to open python 2.7

How do I make Python 2.7 open by default?

Answer 1

The python.org installers for Python 2.x on OS X by default modify shell profiles (for the standard shells like bash and csh) to add its framework bin directory to the front of your shell path. Assuming you did not deselect the option during installation, there should now be the following in your .bash_profile file.

# Setting PATH for Python 2.7
# The orginal version is saved in .profile.pysave
PATH="/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/bin:${PATH}"
export PATH

But this profile is only executed by default when you launch a new terminal window; it won't apply to existing terminal sessions. So make sure you open a new one and then try again. If you are using a different shell, you may need to modify that shell's startup to do the equivalent.

The python.org installers for Python 3.x on OS X do not select the shell script modification option by default. You can enable it at installation or you can later run the Update Shell Profile.command file in the corresponding Python x.x folder in the Applications folder. Or you can just manually edit the right profile.