Install New Versions of Python on macOS

Python Tutorials - Herong's Tutorial Examples

∟Install New Versions of Python on macOS

This section provides a tutorial example on how to install newer version of Python on macOS.

If the pre-installed version of Python is too old on your macOS computer, you can download and install a newer version as shown below:

1. Go to Python download Website at https://www.python.org/downloads/.

2. Click "Download Python 3.8.0" button. And save the download file.

3. Double-click on the download file "python-3.8.0-macosx10.9.pkg" and follow installation instructions to finish the installation.

4. Go to the Launchpad. You see 2 new applications: Python IDLE and Python Launcher.

There are a number of ways to use the newer version of Python:

Python IDLE - A Python interpreter window with some limited GUI functionalities.
Python Launcher - A tool to associate the Python interpreter to *.py file extension. This allows you to double click *.py files to execute them.
"python" Command - A command line Python interpreter. This requires you enter the correct command that links to the Python interpreter program file.

Note that the newer version of Python did not replace the older version. So you have two versions of Python on your macOS located at different directories.

Python 2.7 Version - This is the older version pre-installed in the macOS system. You can access Python 2.7 with the "python" command:

herong$ python --version
Python 2.7.10

herong$ which python
/usr/bin/python

Python 3.8 Version - This is the newer version installed by you. You can access Python 3.8 with the "python3" command:

herong$ python3 --version
Python 3.8.0

herong$ which python3
/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.8/bin/python3

herong$ ls -l /usr/local/bin/python3
... /usr/local/bin/python3 -> \
   ../../../Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.8/bin/python3