Python comes pre-installed on Mac OS X so it is easy to startusing. However, to take advantage of the latest versions ofPython, you will need to download and install newer versionsalongside the system ones. The easiest way to do that is toinstall one of the binary installers for OS X from thePython Download page. Installers areavailable for the latest Python 3 and Python 2 releases thatwill work on all Macs that run Mac OS X 10.5 and later.
Python for Mac OS XPython For Mac![]()
There are now newer security-fix releases of Python 3.6 that supersede 3.6.8 and Python 3.8 is now the latest feature release of Python 3.Get the latest releases of 3.6.x and 3.8.x here.Python 3.6.8 is planned to be the last bugfix release for 3.6.x. Following the release of 3.6.8, we plan to provide security fixes for Python 3.6 as needed through 2021, five years following its initial. The official home of the Python Programming Language. NEW as of 3.6.5: we are providing two binary installer options for download. The new variant works on macOS 10.9 (Mavericks) and later systems and comes with its own batteries-included version oF Tcl/Tk 8.6 for users of IDLE and other tkinter-based GUI applications.
Python releases include IDLE, Python's built-in interactivedevelopment environment. If you download and install Pythonfrom the release page, you may also need to download and installa newer version of Tcl/Tk for OS X. See theIDLE and Tkinter on OS X page formore information.
You can run a Python interpreter by double-clicking onApplications / Utilities / Terminal and typing python3 (if you'veinstalled a version of Python 3) or python (to use Python 2) inthe window that opens up. You can also launch IDLE for the Pythonversion you have installed by double-clicking its icon inthe appropriate Python version folder in the Applications folderor you can also just type idle3 or idle in a terminal window.
There are many thousands of additional Python software packagesavailable through PyPI, the PythonPackage Index. We recommend you use thepip tool to simplifyinstalling and managing additional packages. pip is includedwith Python 3.4 releases; for earlier releases, follow the pipinstall instructions.
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Among the packages available through PyPI are some that arespecifically for OS X environments. Among these are:
For more information about Python on OS X, see the mailing list and archivesfor thePython-Macintosh Special Interest Group.
Alternative Packages for Mac OS X.
Python and a comprehensive set of third-party packages and libraries are alsoavailable from several open source package manager projects for OS X,including:
Historically MacOS came preinstalled with Python 2, however starting with Mac 10.15 (released in October 2019) this is no longer the case. Easy video editing app for mac. And since Python 2 will no longer be officially supported as of January 1, 2020, you should really use Python 3 instead.
There are multiple ways to install Python 3 on a MacOS computer. Lingon x 6 6 1. The official Python website even recommends downloading it directly, however this approach can cause confusion around PATH variables, updates, and uninstalls. A better approach, in my opinion, is to instead use the popular package manager Homebrew which automates updates and juggling multiple versions of Python on a computer.
Is Python 3 already installed?
Before we start, make sure Python 3 isn’t already installed on your computer. Open up the command line via the Terminal application which is located at
Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal .
Then type the command
python --version followed by the Enter key to see the currently installed version of Python.
Note: The dollar sign, (
$ ), indicates user input. Everything after is intended to be typed by the user followed by the Enter key. Any output, such as Python 2.7.17 in this case, does not have a dollar sign in front.In short: don’t type $ before your commands!
It’s possible that Python 3 may have already been installed as
python3 . Run the command python3 --version to check, however most likely this will throw an error.
Install XCode
The first step for Python 3 is to install Apple’s Xcode program which is necessary for iOS development as well as most programming tasks. We will use XCode to install Homebrew.
In your Terminal app, run the following command to install XCode and its command-line tools:
It is a large program so this make take a while to download. Make sure to click through all the confirmation prompts XCode requires.
Install Homebrew
Next install Homebrew by copy/pasting the following command into Terminal and then type Enter:
To confirm Homebrew installed correctly, run this command:
Install Python 3
Now we can install the latest version of Python 3. Type the following command into Terminal and press Enter:
To confirm which version of Python 3 was installed, run the following command in Terminal:
Finally, to run our new version of Python 3 open an interactive shall by typing
python3 within Terminal:
To exit the Python 3 interactive shell, you can type either
exit() and then Return or type Control+d which means hold both the Control and D keys at the same time.
Python 3.7 Download Mac
Note that it is still possible to run Python 2 by simply typing
python :
Virtual Environments
By default, Python packages are installed globally on your computer in a single directory. This can cause major problems when working on multiple Python projects!
For example, imagine you have Project A that relies upon Django 1.11 whereas Project B uses Django 2.2. If you naively installed Django on your computer, only the latest install would be present and available in that single directory. Then consider that most Python projects rely on multiple packages that each have their own version numbers. There’s simply no way to keep everything straight and not inadvertently break things with the wrong package versions.
Install Python 3.6 On Mac
The solution is to use a virtual environment for each project, an isolated directory, rather than installing Python packages globally.
Confusingly, there are multiple tools for virtual environments in Python:
On MacOS we can install Pipenv with Homebrew.
Then use Pipenv for any Python packages you wish to install. For example, if you want to work with Django 2.2.6, first create a dedicated directory for it on your computer such as in a
django directory on your Desktop.
Then install Django within that directory.
If you look within the directory there are now two new files,
Pipfile and Pipfile.lock , which Pipenv uses. To activate the virtual environment type pipenv shell .
There will now be parentheses around the name of your current directory which indicates the virtual environment is activate. Can you control alexa from your mac. To exit the virtual environment, type
exit .
The lack of parentheses confirms the virtual environment is no longer active.
Next Steps
To learn more about Python, the books Python Crash Course and Automate the Boring Stuff are great resources. For free tutorials on web development with Python check out Learn Django.
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