Emacs: How do I detect which Python mode is running and select default Python interpreter?

Question

Emacs: How do I detect which Python mode is running and select default Python interpreter?

First of all, how do I see which Python mode is running?

I've read that multiple exist, like python-mode.el etc.

Secondly, pressing C-c C-z results in a Run Python dialog appearing. I use Python3 and I want this to be the default. So, instead of always editing python to python3 in the path /usr/bin/python -i, how do I make this automatically?

Please resond so a newbie to Emacs can understand the details :-)

Jules · Accepted Answer · 2016-06-10 18:01:37Z

1

First off lets start off by finding out which python mode you're using. Generally unless you downloaded something and actively decided to use python-mode.el you won't be using it, instead you'll be using the great, built-in, python.el. If you didn't know this you could press C-h m to bring up the help menu for the mode that you're currently in. A bit down the page you'll notice that it says "Python mode is defined in 'python.el'". Neat!

Okay so choosing the interpreter is pretty easy. There is a variable called python-shell-interpreter you can set this variable to anything you want! For example you can set it to "python3", I personally have it set to "ipython". The code to place in your init file, is (setq python-shell-interpreter "python3")

If you have any other questions feel free to let me know!

answered Jun 10, 2016 at 18:01

Jules

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2 Comments

Shuzheng Over a year ago

Thanks for your answer. What exactly is "ipython", and why don't I use this by default?

Jules Over a year ago

Ipython lets you interact with python the same way that the normal interpretter does, I just think it looks prettier

Jeff Held · Accepted Answer · 2016-06-13 01:08:35Z

0

In your init file you can place the following:

(setq python-shell-interpreter "/usr/bin/python3")

so that Emacs will use Python 3 instead of Python 2. Here's info on init files in case you don't know about them.

answered Jun 13, 2016 at 1:08

Jeff Held

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