Where / Which / What Python? | Mac *

This one will solve all your problems not only for Mac but for every basic shell -> Linux also: TL;DR (you don't have to go over all of it) Let's start by running:

which python3

On Mac you should get:

/usr/local/bin/python3

Now this is a symbolic link, how do you know? Run:

ls -al /usr/local/bin/python3 

and you'll get (if you've installed Python w/ Brew):

/usr/local/bin/python3 -> /usr/local/Cellar/python/3.6.4_4/bin/python3

which means that your

/usr/local/bin/python3 

is actually pointing to – that's it!:

/usr/local/Cellar/python/3.6.4_4/bin/python3

Longer version (optional): If, for some reason, your

/usr/local/bin/python3 

is not pointing to the place you want, which in our case:

/usr/local/Cellar/python/3.6.4_4/bin/python3

just backup it:

cp /usr/local/bin/python3{,.orig} 

and run:

rm -rf /usr/local/bin/python3

now create a new symbolic link:

ln -s /usr/local/Cellar/python/3.6.4_4/bin/python3 /usr/local/bin/python3 

and now your

/usr/local/bin/python3

is pointing to

/usr/local/Cellar/python/3.6.4_4/bin/python3 

Check it out by running:

ls -al /usr/local/bin/python3

 

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I found the easiest way to locate it, you can use

which python

it will show something like this:

/usr/bin/python

---

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[GCC 4.2.1 (Apple Inc. build 5646)] is the version of GCC that the Python(s) were built with, not the version of Python itself. That information should be on the previous line. For example:

# Apple-supplied Python 2.6 in OS X 10.6
$ /usr/bin/python
Python 2.6.1 (r261:67515, Jun 24 2010, 21:47:49) 
[GCC 4.2.1 (Apple Inc. build 5646)] on darwin
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> 

# python.org Python 2.7.2 (also built with newer gcc)
$ /usr/local/bin/python
Python 2.7.2 (v2.7.2:8527427914a2, Jun 11 2011, 15:22:34) 
[GCC 4.2.1 (Apple Inc. build 5666) (dot 3)] on darwin
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>>

Items in /usr/bin should always be or link to files supplied by Apple in OS X, unless someone has been ill-advisedly changing things there. To see exactly where the /usr/local/bin/python is linked to:

$ ls -l /usr/local/bin/python
lrwxr-xr-x  1 root  wheel  68 Jul  5 10:05 /usr/local/bin/python@ -> ../../../Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/bin/python

In this case, that is typical for a python.org installed Python instance or it could be one built from source.

 

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answered Jul 25, 2011 at 19:02

Ned Deily

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On Mac OS X, it's in the Python framework in /System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Resources.

Full path is:

/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/Resources/Python.app/Contents/MacOS/Python

Btw it's easy to find out where you can find a specific binary: which Python will show you the path of your Python binary (which is probably the same as I posted above).

 

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edited Apr 26, 2016 at 20:11

answered Jul 25, 2011 at 17:00

cutsoy

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• yea i knew that. Its just that I'm confused – I ran the interpreter on /usr/local/bin/ and printed sys.executable. It says /usr/bin/python. but I read the docs and it says that the apple-provided was in /usr/bin/ and the macpython's "A symlink to the Python executable is placed in /usr/local/bin/".

  – goh

  Jul 25, 2011 at 17:13

• Well, it makes sense: when you compile the python-executable yourself and move it to, say /Users/John/Downloads/, it'll show you it's placed at /Users/John/Downloads/python. You can run multiple executable next to each other on the same system. AFAIK the one in Python.framework is the primary one though, so you should rely on that one.

  – cutsoy

  Jul 25, 2011 at 17:17

• 30

  Actually, the Apple-supplied Pythons in Mac OS X are in /System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework. Anything in /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework comes from a third-party install, usually a python.org (or other distributor) installer or if you did a default framework build of Python from source.

  – Ned Deily

  Jul 25, 2011 at 19:06

• 1

  When I run /System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/bin/python2.7 the ps aux output shows me /System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/Resources/Python.app/Contents/MacOS/Python, why is that – I don't see that it's a symlink ? ( Asked this question at AskDifferent )

  – Zitrax

  Apr 2, 2014 at 11:49

• @Tim Thanks. When I go to /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/, I see not 2.7 (which is what I have installed), but an alias file called 'Current', which, when clicked, gives me the error "The operation can't be competed because the original item for 'Current' can't be found."

  – Pyderman

  Jul 22, 2015 at 14:00