Search code examples
python-3.xmacosuninstallationreinstall

can't uninstall python3 in macOS

I am having trouble with my current python, so I wanted to uninstall my python and install the latest version. I installed with homebrew, so I uninstalled it with homebrew and reinstalled python 3.8.1 with the installer from the official site. Python3.8 was installed, but my python3 was not upgraded.

 ~ which python3                                      
/usr/bin/python3
 ~ python3 --version                                  
Python 3.7.3

I know I'm not supposed to(and I can't) manually delete things inside /usr/bin. What am I supposed to do?

Solution

  • When you installed Python with homebrew it told you this:

    Unversioned symlinks python, python-config, pip etc. pointing to python3, python3-config, pip3 etc., respectively, have been installed into /usr/local/opt/python/libexec/bin

    If you need a reminder, post install, you will get the same message if you run:

    brew info python

    It says "unversioned links are in /usr/local/opt/python/libexec/bin". That means, if you want to run Python without specifying the version, i.e. if you want to type this:

    python

    and this:

    pip

    to start Python 3 and its corresponding pip, you need to make sure your PATH has /usr/local/opt/python/libexec/bin at the start, i.e.

    export PATH=/usr/local/opt/python/libexec/bin:$PATH