Installation & Running Python in Python
From the Python cheat sheet · Setup & Basics · verified Jul 2026
Installation & Running Python
Install Python and run scripts from the command line.
bash
# Install (macOS)
brew install python
# Install (Ubuntu/Debian)
sudo apt install python3 python3-pip
# Install (Windows) — download from https://python.org/downloads
# Check version
python3 --version
# Run a script
python3 app.py
# Interactive REPL
python3💡 Use python3 explicitly — "python" may point to Python 2 on some systems
⚡ The REPL is great for testing snippets — type exit() or Ctrl+D to quit
📌 On Windows, use "py" instead of "python3" as the launcher
🟢 Use "python3 -m" to run installed modules as scripts (e.g., http.server, venv)
installsetupcli