I want to completely remove Python 2.7 from my Mac OS X 10.6.4. I managed to remove the entry from the PATH variable by reverting my .bash_profile. But I also want to remove all directories, files, symlinks, and entries that got installed by the Python 2.7 install package. I’ve got the install package from http://www.python.org/. What directories/files/configuration file entries do I need to remove? Is there a list somewhere?

Do not attempt to remove any Apple-supplied system Python which are in /System/Library and /usr/bin, as this may break your whole operating system.

NOTE: The steps listed below do not affect the Apple-supplied system Python 2.7; they only remove a third-party Python framework, like those installed by python.org installers.

The complete list is documented here. Basically, all you need to do is the following:

1. Remove the third-party Python 2.7 framework

   sudo rm -rf /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7
   

2. Remove the Python 2.7 applications directory

   sudo rm -rf "/Applications/Python 2.7"
   

3. Remove the symbolic links, in /usr/local/bin, that point to this Python version. See them using

   ls -l /usr/local/bin | grep '../Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7' 
   

   and then run the following command to remove all the links:

   cd /usr/local/bin/
   ls -l /usr/local/bin | grep '../Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7' | awk '{print $9}' | tr -d @ | xargs rm
   

4. If necessary, edit your shell profile file(s) to remove adding /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7 to your PATH environment file. Depending on which shell you use, any of the following files may have been modified: ~/.bash_login, ~/.bash_profile, ~/.cshrc, ~/.profile, ~/.tcshrc, and/or ~/.zprofile.

This one works:

cd /usr/local/bin/
ls -l /usr/local/bin | grep '../Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7' | awk '{print $9}' | tr -d @ | xargs rm

Description: It list all the links, removes @ character and then removes them.

If you installed it using the PKG installer, you can do:

pkgutil --pkgs

or better:

pkgutil --pkgs | grep org.python.Python

which will output something like:

org.python.Python.PythonApplications-2.7
org.python.Python.PythonDocumentation-2.7
org.python.Python.PythonFramework-2.7
org.python.Python.PythonProfileChanges-2.7
org.python.Python.PythonUnixTools-2.7

you can now select which packages you will unlink (remove).

This is the unlink documentation:

 --unlink package-id
             Unlinks (removes) each file referenced by package-id. WARNING: This command makes no attempt to perform reference counting or dependency analy-
             sis. It can easily remove files required by your system. It may include unexpected files due to package tainting. Use the --files command first
             to double check.

In my example you will type

pkgutil --unlink org.python.Python.PythonApplications-2.7
pkgutil --unlink org.python.Python.PythonDocumentation-2.7
pkgutil --unlink org.python.Python.PythonFramework-2.7
pkgutil --unlink org.python.Python.PythonProfileChanges-2.7
pkgutil --unlink org.python.Python.PythonUnixTools-2.7

or in one single line:

pkgutil --pkgs | grep org.python.Python | xargs -L1 pkgutil -f --unlink

Important: –unlink is not available anymore starting with Lion (as of Q1`2014 that would include Lion, Mountain Lion, and Mavericks). If anyone that comes to this instructions try to use it with lion, should try instead to adapt it with what this post is saying: https://wincent.com/wiki/Uninstalling_packages_(.pkg_files)_on_Mac_OS_X

Trying to uninstall Python with

brew uninstall python

will not remove the natively installed Python but rather the version installed with brew.

In regards to deleting the symbolic links, I found this to be useful.

find /usr/local/bin -lname '../../../Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/*' -delete

Create the symlink to latest version

 ln -s -f /usr/local/bin/python3.8 /usr/local/bin/python

Close and open a new terminal

and try

 python --version

No need to uninstall old python versions.

Just install new version say python-3.3.2-macosx10.6.dmg and change the soft link of python to newly installed python3.3

Check the path of default python and python3.3 with following commands

“which python” and “which python3.3”

then delete existing soft link of python and point it to python3.3

Onur Güzel provides the solution in his blog post, “Uninstall Python Package from OS X.

You should type the following commands into the terminal:

1. sudo rm -rf /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework
2. cd /usr/local/bin
3. ls -l . | grep '../Library/Frameworks/Python.framework' | awk '{print $9}' | xargs sudo rm

4. sudo rm -rf "/Applications/Python x.y"

   where command x.y is the version of Python installed. According to your question, it should be 2.7.

In Onur’s words:

WARNING: This commands will remove all Python versions installed with packages. Python provided from the system will not be affected.

If you have more than 1 Python version installed from python.org, then run the fourth command again, changing “x.y” for each version of Python that is to be uninstalled.

Note: If you installed Python using Homebrew, then you can follow the following steps, otherwise look for another solution!

To uninstall Python 2.7.10 which you installed using Homebrew, then you can simply issue the following command:

brew uninstall python

Similarly, if you want to uninstall Python 3 (which you installed using Homebrew):

brew uninstall --force python3

No need to uninstall it or going crazy with symbolic links, just use an alias. I faced the same problem when upgrading to python 3.7.1.
Just install the new python version using brew install python then in your .bash_profile create an alias pointing to the new python version; like this: alias python="/usr/local/bin/python3" then save and run source ~/.bash_profile.
Done.

If you’re thinking about manually removing Apple’s default Python 2.7, I’d suggest you hang-fire and do-noting: Looks like Apple will very shortly do it for you:

Python 2.7 Deprecated in OSX 10.15 Catalina

Python 2.7- as well as Ruby & Perl- are deprecated in Catalina: (skip to section “Scripting Language Runtimes” > “Deprecations“)

https://developer.apple.com/documentation/macos_release_notes/macos_catalina_10_15_release_notes

Apple To Remove Python 2.7 in OSX 10.16

Indeed, if you do nothing at all, according to The Mac Observer, by OSX version 10.16, Python 2.7 will disappear from your system:

https://www.macobserver.com/analysis/macos-catalina-deprecates-unix-scripting-languages/

Given this revelation, I’d suggest the best course of action is do nothing and wait for Apple to wipe it for you. As Apple is imminently about to remove it for you, doesn’t seem worth the risk of tinkering with your Python environment.

NOTE: I see the question relates specifically to OSX v 10.6.4, but it appears this question has become a pivot-point for all OSX folks interested in removing Python 2.7 from their systems, whatever version they’re running.