Check for Python 2.7

Course Builder requires Python 2.7 (versions 2.7.0 - 2.7.10). To determine whether you have Python 2.7 installed, follow the instructions for your system:

On a Mac

Most Macs come with Python 2.7 already installed, but it’s good to double-check the version. To determine whether you have Python 2.7, open the Terminal application, type the following, and press Return: 

python -V

This command will report the version of Python: 

Python 2.7.3

Any version between 2.7.0 and 2.7.10 is fine. If you have a different version of Python (earlier or later) or if you do not get a response to the command at all, then you should download and install Python 2.7.10. Find and select the Mac OS X installer file that matches your system. The file will download, and opening it will begin the installation.

On Windows 7

To get to the command line, open the Windows menu and type “command” in the search bar. Select Command Prompt from the search results.

In the Command Prompt window, type the following and press Enter. 

python

If Python is installed and in your path, then this command will run python.exe and show you the version number. 

Python 2.7.4 (r264:75708, Oct 10 2009, 07:36:50) [MSC v.1500 64 bit (AMD64)] on win32
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for further information.

Otherwise, you will see: 

'python' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.

In this case, you need to download and install Python 2.7.10 and then add it to your path.

Download and install Python 2.7.10 for Windows

Go to Python 2.7.10 downloads page

Find and download the Windows installer file that matches your system.

Open the file to start the installation wizard.

Follow the instructions and make a note of where Python is installed on your system.

Add Python to path

In the Windows menu, search for “advanced system settings” and select View advanced system settings.

In the window that appears, click Environment Variables… near the bottom right.

In the next window, find and select the user variable named Path and click Edit… to change its value. The value for this variable is a semi-colon-delimited list of file locations.

Scroll to the end of the value, add a semi-colon, and then add the location of python.exe. (If you do not know where your python.exe is, you can search for it.)

Click OK to save this change.

If you do not have a user variable named Path, click the New… button.

Add a variable named Path and make its value the location of python.exe.

Finding python.exe

If you do not know where Python was installed, search for python.exe in the Windows menu.

Right-click the file name in the results, select Properties, and find Location.

Copy the location and add it to your path variable.

Confirm addition to path

Open a new command prompt and re-run the original command: 

python

to confirm that Python 2.7.10 is installed and added to your path.

If you are using Linux or another POSIX-compliant system

On Linux or other POSIX-compliant systems, open a shell and type 

which python

If Python is installed, you will get back its location, which may or may not include the version number. If the location does not include a version number, then ask for it: 

python -V

This command returns the version 

Python 2.7.3

If you do not have Python 2.7 installed, you can get it from Python 2.7.10 downloads page.