Installed python3, getting command not found error in terminal

Question

I installed python3, I can open idle and it says it is running python3.0.1, but when I enter python3 in the terminal (on OSX) I get an error saying 'command not found'. Entering python gets me the 2.x version that came on the computer. Any advice on how I can access python3 from the terminal?

Thanks

Answer 1

First, don't use Python 3.0.1. It has many problems and was officially retired upon the release of Python 3.1 (currently 3.1.2). You can find the python.org Mac OS X installer for 3.1.2 here. Once it is installed, then you need to ensure that the bin directory from the 3.1.2 framework (/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.1/bin) is on your shell search path. You can manually modify an appropriate shell startup file, like .bash_profile. Or just double-click the Update Shell Profile.command found in /Applications/Python 3.1. In either case, you will need to open a new terminal window or re-login. Another approach is to install Python 3.1 from MacPorts or another distributor. Also, alpha releases of Python 3.2 are now available from python.org and elsewhere.