Uninstalling Python 3 on a Mac

I installed Python 3 to learn Python and quickly realized that django isn't compatible with Python 3.

How do I uninstall Python 3 on my Mac so that I can install a different version?

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4 Answers

Python.org has added uninstall directions to the documentation:

Reading this and then inspecting my install, my list of things to uninstall is:

• MacPython 3.3 folder in your Applications folder.
• /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework
• about 20 symlinks in /usr/local/bin.
• reference in shell path (if exists)

Using Text Wranger, which can show invisible files, I browsed my home folder and I didn't see a .bash_profile, just .bash_history. So the installer only adds the reference if the Bash profile exists. (echo $path) didn't show either. (see also: )

The installer package really should include an uninstall script.

As of April 2013 most tutorials and courses still require Python 2, so many people will need to uninstall Python 3.

1

How did you install it? If you used an installer, then follow yoda's wise advice. Open a terminal and remove the directory /System/Library/Frameworks/ if it exists. You should also make sure that the symlink /System/Library/Frameworks/ does not point to 3.0. If it does, then reset it to point to 2.6 or something appropriate.

2

If the python3 location is in /usr/bin/python3 then you won't be able to delete it directly, the MAc OS may throw error like “Operation not permitted” or “read only file system” etc, because Mac OS mount the system files as read only partition and use a mechanism called system integrity protection(csrutil).

To remove the file you need to do the the following steps,

1. Reboot the Mac OS into recovery mode
2. Open disk utility
3. Unmount “Macintosh HD” and mount again
4. Open terminal from utilities Run command “csrutil disable”
5. Remove the file from “ rm /volumes/macintosh\ hd/usr/bin/python3 “
6. Run command “csrutil enable”
7. Reboot the OS again

This is not a programming question. You uninstall it just as you uninstall any other software on a mac! You have a couple of options

1. Goto Finder>Applications>Python 3.0 (or whatever the folder is named). Right click, select Move to Trash, empty trash.
2. Open Terminal, type sudo rm -rf /Applications/Python\ 3.0/, enter password and you're done.

Different versions of python go in different folders. So, you can install a new version and leave v3.0 as it is. Just remember to add the new python dir to your path and remove the old one or set an alias for python to python2.x

Next time, remember that such questions are better asked on

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