Python broke when installing 3.x

Question

I had my mac osx working fine with python 2.7.10, and I've installed python3 via brew install python3.

on my bash_profile I then create an alias python=python3.

but when I

>>python3

I got:

Your PYTHONPATH points to a site-packages dir for Python 2.x but you are running Python 3.x! PYTHONPATH is currently: "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages:" You should unset PYTHONPATH to fix this.

then I ran brew uninstall python3, but things did not come to previous configuration, and I couldn't run neither python versions anymore.

>>python now gives me:

-bash: python3: command not found

I tried then to brew link python3, since it appeared to be there, but to no avail.

now, If I which python, I get:

/usr/local/bin/python.

how do I fix this mess, minding that I want to keep both 2.7 and 3.5?

ps. my bash_profile now:

export PATH=“/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/bin:~/bin:./bin:$PATH"
"export PYTHONPATH="/usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages:$PYTHONPATH"

best why to fix things is to use `virtual environments` as this will force the python version if you have multiple python installations. — Chinny84, Dec 04 '16 at 23:12
I don't know anything about OSX, but is their something similar to windows enviorment variables? Just manually set the PYTHONPATH enviorment variable. — Ashwin Gupta, Dec 04 '16 at 23:12
the linked answer is too broad...I am still trying to figure out how to set the correct path. — 8-Bit Borges, Dec 04 '16 at 23:59

score 0 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 10:30

0

Attempt to set the PYTHONPATH environment variable manually to point to the correct python installation. If you want both, set it to both (separated with a ; semicolon) and just specify in the cmd python2 or python3 depending on which you want to open.

This explains how to access the enviorment variables on OSX:

Setting environment variables in OS X?

Sorry, I'd provide more detail but I only run Linux and Windows on my home machines so I don't know much about OSX.

edit: actually, you may need to seperate different locations with a , comma rather then semicolon. Don't know, look at the existing ones to see how it is.

edited May 23 '17 at 10:30

Community

1
1

answered Dec 04 '16 at 23:13

Ashwin Gupta

2,159
9
30
60

the thing is: `3.5` installed via `homebrew` is not inside `Python.framework`, only `2.7`, yet brew says that it is already installed. – 8-Bit Borges Dec 05 '16 at 00:03
somehow it worked when I did `unset PYTHONPATH`. now it fires `python 3.5` – 8-Bit Borges Dec 05 '16 at 02:38
@data_garden is that what you wanted? If so, accept please! Otherwise, just set it to what you want. – Ashwin Gupta Dec 06 '16 at 02:17

Python broke when installing 3.x

1 Answers1