Choose Your Python Version

How to find out your Python version

In our instructions, we typically say to run Python scripts with the following command format:

python3 <scriptname.py>

python3 is actually a symbolic link to a specific Python interpreter. Which one? You can find out by entering:

python3 --version

or use the following command to see how the symbolic link points to the a specific interpreter:

ls -l /usr/bin/python3

What if I want to use a different version?

One easy way to accomplish this (and reduce your typing requirements), is to create an alias. You can open the file ~/.bashrc in your favorite text editor and add the following line at the end of the file:

alias py="/usr/bin/python3.7"

Or without a text editor, just enter this command :

echo "\nalias py=\"/usr/bin/python3.7\n\"" > ~/.bashrc

After editing your ~/.bashrc, you'll need to reload it:

source ~/.bashrc

Now, whenever you enter py, your shell will interpret it as a direct call to your python interpreter of choice! And your fingers can rest easy without typing out python3 every time ;)

# Look ma, less typing!
py <scriptname.py>