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.. _using-on-mac:
*********************
Using Python on a Mac
*********************
:Author: Bob Savage <bobsavage@mac.com>
Python on a Mac running macOS is in principle very similar to Python on
any other Unix platform, but there are a number of additional features such as
the IDE and the Package Manager that are worth pointing out.
.. _getting-osx:
Getting and Installing MacPython
================================
macOS used to come with Python 2.7 pre-installed between versions
10.8 and `12.3 <https://developer.apple.com/documentation/macos-release-notes/macos-12_3-release-notes#Python>`_.
You are invited to install the most recent version of Python 3 from the Python
website (https://www.python.org). A current "universal binary" build of Python,
which runs natively on the Mac's new Intel and legacy PPC CPU's, is available
there.
What you get after installing is a number of things:
* A :file:`Python 3.12` folder in your :file:`Applications` folder. In here
you find IDLE, the development environment that is a standard part of official
Python distributions; and PythonLauncher, which handles double-clicking Python
scripts from the Finder.
* A framework :file:`/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework`, which includes the
Python executable and libraries. The installer adds this location to your shell
path. To uninstall MacPython, you can simply remove these three things. A
symlink to the Python executable is placed in /usr/local/bin/.
The Apple-provided build of Python is installed in
:file:`/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework` and :file:`/usr/bin/python`,
respectively. You should never modify or delete these, as they are
Apple-controlled and are used by Apple- or third-party software. Remember that
if you choose to install a newer Python version from python.org, you will have
two different but functional Python installations on your computer, so it will
be important that your paths and usages are consistent with what you want to do.
IDLE includes a help menu that allows you to access Python documentation. If you
are completely new to Python you should start reading the tutorial introduction
in that document.
If you are familiar with Python on other Unix platforms you should read the
section on running Python scripts from the Unix shell.
How to run a Python script
--------------------------
Your best way to get started with Python on macOS is through the IDLE
integrated development environment, see section :ref:`ide` and use the Help menu
when the IDE is running.
If you want to run Python scripts from the Terminal window command line or from
the Finder you first need an editor to create your script. macOS comes with a
number of standard Unix command line editors, :program:`vim` and
:program:`emacs` among them. If you want a more Mac-like editor,
:program:`BBEdit` or :program:`TextWrangler` from Bare Bones Software (see
http://www.barebones.com/products/bbedit/index.html) are good choices, as is
:program:`TextMate` (see https://macromates.com/). Other editors include
:program:`Gvim` (https://macvim.org/macvim/) and :program:`Aquamacs`
(http://aquamacs.org/).
To run your script from the Terminal window you must make sure that
:file:`/usr/local/bin` is in your shell search path.
To run your script from the Finder you have two options:
* Drag it to :program:`PythonLauncher`
* Select :program:`PythonLauncher` as the default application to open your
script (or any .py script) through the finder Info window and double-click it.
:program:`PythonLauncher` has various preferences to control how your script is
launched. Option-dragging allows you to change these for one invocation, or use
its Preferences menu to change things globally.
.. _osx-gui-scripts:
Running scripts with a GUI
--------------------------
With older versions of Python, there is one macOS quirk that you need to be
aware of: programs that talk to the Aqua window manager (in other words,
anything that has a GUI) need to be run in a special way. Use :program:`pythonw`
instead of :program:`python` to start such scripts.
With Python 3.9, you can use either :program:`python` or :program:`pythonw`.
Configuration
-------------
Python on macOS honors all standard Unix environment variables such as
:envvar:`PYTHONPATH`, but setting these variables for programs started from the
Finder is non-standard as the Finder does not read your :file:`.profile` or
:file:`.cshrc` at startup. You need to create a file
:file:`~/.MacOSX/environment.plist`. See Apple's Technical Document QA1067 for
details.
For more information on installation Python packages in MacPython, see section
:ref:`mac-package-manager`.
.. _ide:
The IDE
=======
MacPython ships with the standard IDLE development environment. A good
Merged revisions 80605-80609,80642-80646,80651-80652,80674,80684-80686,80748,80852,80854,80870,80872-80873,80907,80915-80916,80951-80952,80976-80977,80985,81038-81040,81042,81053,81070,81104-81105,81114,81125,81245,81285,81402,81463,81516,81562-81563,81567,81593,81635,81680-81681,81684,81801,81888,81931-81933,81939-81942,81963,81984,81991,82120,82188,82264-82267 via svnmerge from svn+ssh://pythondev@svn.python.org/python/trunk ........ r80605 | andrew.kuchling | 2010-04-28 19:22:16 -0500 (Wed, 28 Apr 2010) | 1 line Add various items ........ r80606 | andrew.kuchling | 2010-04-28 20:44:30 -0500 (Wed, 28 Apr 2010) | 6 lines Fix doubled 'the'. Markup fixes to use :exc:, :option: in a few places. (Glitch: unittest.main's -c ends up a link to the Python interpreter's -c option. Should we skip using :option: for that switch, or disable the auto-linking somehow?) ........ r80607 | andrew.kuchling | 2010-04-28 20:45:41 -0500 (Wed, 28 Apr 2010) | 1 line Add various unittest items ........ r80608 | benjamin.peterson | 2010-04-28 22:18:05 -0500 (Wed, 28 Apr 2010) | 1 line update pypy description ........ r80609 | benjamin.peterson | 2010-04-28 22:30:59 -0500 (Wed, 28 Apr 2010) | 1 line update pypy url ........ r80642 | andrew.kuchling | 2010-04-29 19:49:09 -0500 (Thu, 29 Apr 2010) | 1 line Always add space after RFC; reword paragraph ........ r80643 | andrew.kuchling | 2010-04-29 19:52:31 -0500 (Thu, 29 Apr 2010) | 6 lines Reword paragraph to make its meaning clearer. Antoine Pitrou: is my version of the paragraph still correct? R. 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Travis didn't do much and he did a bad work. (yes, this is a sensitive subject, sorry) ........ r80748 | andrew.kuchling | 2010-05-03 20:24:22 -0500 (Mon, 03 May 2010) | 1 line Add some more items; the urlparse change is added twice ........ r80852 | andrew.kuchling | 2010-05-05 20:09:47 -0500 (Wed, 05 May 2010) | 1 line Reword paragraph; fix filename, which should be pyconfig.h ........ r80854 | andrew.kuchling | 2010-05-05 20:10:56 -0500 (Wed, 05 May 2010) | 1 line Add various items ........ r80870 | andrew.kuchling | 2010-05-06 09:14:09 -0500 (Thu, 06 May 2010) | 1 line Describe ElementTree 1.3; rearrange new-module sections; describe dict views as sets; small edits and items ........ r80872 | andrew.kuchling | 2010-05-06 12:21:59 -0500 (Thu, 06 May 2010) | 1 line Add 2 items; record ideas for two initial sections; clarify wording ........ r80873 | andrew.kuchling | 2010-05-06 12:27:57 -0500 (Thu, 06 May 2010) | 1 line Change section title; point to unittest2 ........ r80907 | andrew.kuchling | 2010-05-06 20:45:14 -0500 (Thu, 06 May 2010) | 1 line Add a new section on the development plan; add an item ........ r80915 | antoine.pitrou | 2010-05-07 05:15:51 -0500 (Fri, 07 May 2010) | 3 lines Fix some markup and a class name. Also, wrap a long line. ........ r80916 | andrew.kuchling | 2010-05-07 06:30:47 -0500 (Fri, 07 May 2010) | 1 line Re-word text ........ r80951 | andrew.kuchling | 2010-05-07 20:15:26 -0500 (Fri, 07 May 2010) | 1 line Add two items ........ r80952 | andrew.kuchling | 2010-05-07 20:35:55 -0500 (Fri, 07 May 2010) | 1 line Get accents correct ........ r80976 | andrew.kuchling | 2010-05-08 08:28:03 -0500 (Sat, 08 May 2010) | 1 line Add logging.dictConfig example; give up on writing a Ttk example ........ r80977 | andrew.kuchling | 2010-05-08 08:29:46 -0500 (Sat, 08 May 2010) | 1 line Markup fixes ........ r80985 | andrew.kuchling | 2010-05-08 10:39:46 -0500 (Sat, 08 May 2010) | 7 lines Write summary of the 2.7 release; rewrite the future section some more; mention PYTHONWARNINGS env. var; tweak some examples for readability. And with this commit, the "What's New" is done... except for a complete read-through to polish the text, and fixing any reported errors, but those tasks can easily wait until after beta2. ........ r81038 | benjamin.peterson | 2010-05-09 16:09:40 -0500 (Sun, 09 May 2010) | 1 line finish clause ........ r81039 | andrew.kuchling | 2010-05-10 09:18:27 -0500 (Mon, 10 May 2010) | 1 line Markup fix; re-word a sentence ........ r81040 | andrew.kuchling | 2010-05-10 09:20:12 -0500 (Mon, 10 May 2010) | 1 line Use title case ........ r81042 | andrew.kuchling | 2010-05-10 10:03:35 -0500 (Mon, 10 May 2010) | 1 line Link to unittest2 article ........ r81053 | florent.xicluna | 2010-05-10 14:59:22 -0500 (Mon, 10 May 2010) | 2 lines Add a link on maketrans(). ........ r81070 | andrew.kuchling | 2010-05-10 18:13:41 -0500 (Mon, 10 May 2010) | 1 line Fix typo ........ r81104 | andrew.kuchling | 2010-05-11 19:38:44 -0500 (Tue, 11 May 2010) | 1 line Revision pass: lots of edits, typo fixes, rearrangements ........ r81105 | andrew.kuchling | 2010-05-11 19:40:47 -0500 (Tue, 11 May 2010) | 1 line Let's call this done ........ r81114 | andrew.kuchling | 2010-05-12 08:56:07 -0500 (Wed, 12 May 2010) | 1 line Grammar fix ........ r81125 | andrew.kuchling | 2010-05-12 13:56:48 -0500 (Wed, 12 May 2010) | 1 line #8696: add documentation for logging.config.dictConfig (PEP 391) ........ r81245 | andrew.kuchling | 2010-05-16 18:31:16 -0500 (Sun, 16 May 2010) | 1 line Add cross-reference to later section ........ r81285 | vinay.sajip | 2010-05-18 03:16:27 -0500 (Tue, 18 May 2010) | 1 line Fixed minor typo in ReST markup. ........ r81402 | vinay.sajip | 2010-05-21 12:41:34 -0500 (Fri, 21 May 2010) | 1 line Updated logging documentation with more dictConfig information. ........ r81463 | georg.brandl | 2010-05-22 03:17:23 -0500 (Sat, 22 May 2010) | 1 line #8785: less confusing description of regex.find*. ........ r81516 | andrew.kuchling | 2010-05-25 08:34:08 -0500 (Tue, 25 May 2010) | 1 line Add three items ........ r81562 | andrew.kuchling | 2010-05-27 08:22:53 -0500 (Thu, 27 May 2010) | 1 line Rewrite wxWidgets section ........ r81563 | andrew.kuchling | 2010-05-27 08:30:09 -0500 (Thu, 27 May 2010) | 1 line Remove top-level 'General Questions' section, pushing up the questions it contains ........ r81567 | andrew.kuchling | 2010-05-27 16:29:59 -0500 (Thu, 27 May 2010) | 1 line Add item ........ r81593 | georg.brandl | 2010-05-29 03:46:18 -0500 (Sat, 29 May 2010) | 1 line #8616: add new turtle demo "nim". ........ r81635 | georg.brandl | 2010-06-01 02:25:23 -0500 (Tue, 01 Jun 2010) | 1 line Put docs for RegexObject.search() before RegexObject.match() to mirror re.search() and re.match() order. ........ r81680 | vinay.sajip | 2010-06-03 17:34:42 -0500 (Thu, 03 Jun 2010) | 1 line Issue #8890: Documentation changed to avoid reference to temporary files. ........ r81681 | sean.reifschneider | 2010-06-03 20:51:26 -0500 (Thu, 03 Jun 2010) | 2 lines Issue8810: Clearing up docstring for tzinfo.utcoffset. ........ r81684 | vinay.sajip | 2010-06-04 08:41:02 -0500 (Fri, 04 Jun 2010) | 1 line Issue #8890: Documentation changed to avoid reference to temporary files - other cases covered. ........ r81801 | andrew.kuchling | 2010-06-07 08:38:40 -0500 (Mon, 07 Jun 2010) | 1 line #8875: Remove duplicated paragraph ........ r81888 | andrew.kuchling | 2010-06-10 20:54:58 -0500 (Thu, 10 Jun 2010) | 1 line Add a few more items ........ r81931 | georg.brandl | 2010-06-12 01:26:54 -0500 (Sat, 12 Jun 2010) | 1 line Fix punctuation. ........ r81932 | georg.brandl | 2010-06-12 01:28:58 -0500 (Sat, 12 Jun 2010) | 1 line Document that an existing directory raises in mkdir(). ........ r81933 | georg.brandl | 2010-06-12 01:45:33 -0500 (Sat, 12 Jun 2010) | 1 line Update version in README. ........ r81939 | georg.brandl | 2010-06-12 04:45:01 -0500 (Sat, 12 Jun 2010) | 1 line Use newer toctree syntax. ........ r81940 | georg.brandl | 2010-06-12 04:45:28 -0500 (Sat, 12 Jun 2010) | 1 line Add document on how to build. ........ r81941 | georg.brandl | 2010-06-12 04:45:58 -0500 (Sat, 12 Jun 2010) | 1 line Fix gratuitous indentation. ........ r81942 | georg.brandl | 2010-06-12 04:46:03 -0500 (Sat, 12 Jun 2010) | 1 line Update README. ........ r81963 | andrew.kuchling | 2010-06-12 15:00:55 -0500 (Sat, 12 Jun 2010) | 1 line Grammar fix ........ r81984 | georg.brandl | 2010-06-14 10:58:39 -0500 (Mon, 14 Jun 2010) | 1 line #8993: fix reference. ........ r81991 | andrew.kuchling | 2010-06-14 19:38:58 -0500 (Mon, 14 Jun 2010) | 1 line Add another bunch of items ........ r82120 | andrew.kuchling | 2010-06-20 16:45:45 -0500 (Sun, 20 Jun 2010) | 1 line Note that Python 3.x isn't covered; add forward ref. for UTF-8; note error in 2.5 and up ........ r82188 | benjamin.peterson | 2010-06-23 19:02:46 -0500 (Wed, 23 Jun 2010) | 1 line remove reverted changed ........ r82264 | georg.brandl | 2010-06-27 05:47:47 -0500 (Sun, 27 Jun 2010) | 1 line Confusing punctuation. ........ r82265 | georg.brandl | 2010-06-27 05:49:23 -0500 (Sun, 27 Jun 2010) | 1 line Use designated syntax for optional grammar element. ........ r82266 | georg.brandl | 2010-06-27 05:51:44 -0500 (Sun, 27 Jun 2010) | 1 line Fix URL. ........ r82267 | georg.brandl | 2010-06-27 05:55:38 -0500 (Sun, 27 Jun 2010) | 1 line Two typos. ........
2010-06-27 19:32:30 -03:00
introduction to using IDLE can be found at
http://www.hashcollision.org/hkn/python/idle_intro/index.html.
.. _mac-package-manager:
Installing Additional Python Packages
=====================================
There are several methods to install additional Python packages:
* Packages can be installed via the standard Python distutils mode (``python
setup.py install``).
* Many packages can also be installed via the :program:`setuptools` extension
or :program:`pip` wrapper, see https://pip.pypa.io/.
GUI Programming on the Mac
==========================
There are several options for building GUI applications on the Mac with Python.
*PyObjC* is a Python binding to Apple's Objective-C/Cocoa framework, which is
the foundation of most modern Mac development. Information on PyObjC is
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available from https://pypi.org/project/pyobjc/.
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The standard Python GUI toolkit is :mod:`tkinter`, based on the cross-platform
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Tk toolkit (https://www.tcl.tk). An Aqua-native version of Tk is bundled with
macOS by Apple, and the latest version can be downloaded and installed from
https://www.activestate.com; it can also be built from source.
*wxPython* is another popular cross-platform GUI toolkit that runs natively on
macOS. Packages and documentation are available from https://www.wxpython.org.
*PyQt* is another popular cross-platform GUI toolkit that runs natively on
macOS. More information can be found at
https://riverbankcomputing.com/software/pyqt/intro.
Distributing Python Applications on the Mac
===========================================
The standard tool for deploying standalone Python applications on the Mac is
:program:`py2app`. More information on installing and using py2app can be found
at https://pypi.org/project/py2app/.
Other Resources
===============
The MacPython mailing list is an excellent support resource for Python users and
developers on the Mac:
https://www.python.org/community/sigs/current/pythonmac-sig/
Another useful resource is the MacPython wiki:
https://wiki.python.org/moin/MacPython