Using Anaconda in a commercial setting? Replace /Downloads with your actual path and Anaconda3-2020.02-MacOSX-x8664.sh with actual name of the file you downloaded. This tutorial will help you to install Anaconda for Mac OS. Anaconda is both a package manager, python distribution and is incredibly useful for data tasks as it comes bundled with many scientific packages including sci-kit learn, SciPy, Pandas and NumPy. Additionally it’s the recommended method for installing Jupyter Notebooks.
Tutorials
This tutorial will demonstrate how you can install Anaconda, a powerful package manager, on your Mac.
Anaconda is a package manager, an environment manager, and Python distribution that contains a collection of many open source packages. An installation of Anaconda comes with many packages such as numpy, scikit-learn, scipy, and pandas preinstalled and is also the recommended way to install Jupyter Notebooks. This tutorial will include:
With that, let’s get started
Graphical Installation of Anaconda
Installing Anaconda using a graphical installer is probably the easiest way to install Anaconda.
Anaconda Navigator Mac
1 ‒ Go to the Anaconda Website and choose a Python 3.x graphical installer (A) or a Python 2.x graphical installer (B). If you aren’t sure which Python version you want to install, choose Python 3. Do not choose both.
2 - Locate your download and double click it.
3 - Click on Continue
4 - Click on Continue
5 - Note that when you install Anaconda, it modifies your bash profile with either anaconda3 or anaconda2 depending on what Python version you choose. This can important for later. Click on Continue.
6 - Click on Continue to get the License Agreement to appear.
You will need to read and click Agree to the license agreement before clicking on Continue again.
7 - Click on Install
8 - You’ll be prompted to give your password, which is usually the one that you also use to unlock your Mac when you start it up. After you enter your password, click on Install Software.
9 - Click on Continue. You can install Microsoft Visual Studio Code if you like, but it is not required. It is an Integrated Development Environment. You can learn about Python Integrated Development Environments here.
10 - You should get a screen saying the installation has completed. Close the installer and move it to the trash.
Test your Installation
1 - Open a new terminal on your Mac. You can do this by clicking on the Spotlight magnifying glass at the top right of the screen, type “terminal” then click on the terminal icon. Now, type the following command into your terminal
If you had chosen a Python 3 version of Anaconda (like the one in the image above), you will get an output similar to above.
If you had chosen a Python 2 version of Anaconda, you should get a similar output to the one below.
2 - Another good way to test your installation is to try and open a Jupyter Notebook. You can type the command below in your terminal to open a Jupyter Notebook. If the command fails, chances are that Anaconda isn’t in your path. See the next section on Common Issues.
The image below shows a Jupyter Notebook in action. Jupyter notebooks contain both code and rich text elements, such as figures, links, and equations. You can learn more about Jupyter Notebooks here.
Common Issues
The image below shows step 5 of the Graphical Installation of Anaconda from earlier in this tutorial. Notice that when you install Anaconda, it modifies your .bash_profile to put Anaconda in your path.
The problem is that sometimes people have installed multiple different versions of Anaconda and consequently they have multiple versions of Anaconda in their path. For example, say a person needs Python 2 and they install a Python 2 version of Anaconda, That same person then finds that they need Python 3, so they install a Python 3 version of Anaconda. The problem is that you really only need 1 version of Anaconda. A lot of people think that is that if you install a Python 2 version of Anaconda, you are stuck with Python 2. Anaconda is also an environment manager and makes it very easy to go back and forth between Python 2 and 3 on a single installation of Anaconda (learn more here).
To see if you have more than 1 version of anaconda installed and to fix it if you do, let’s first look at your .bash_profile.
1 - Open a new terminal and go to your home directory. You can do this by using the command below.
2 - Use the
cat
command to see the contents of the hidden file .bash_profile. Type the following command into your terminal.You should only see one anaconda version added to your path as you see below, this isn’t a problem for you. Move to the conclusion of the tutorial.
If you see more than one Anaconda version, proceed to step 3.
3 - To remove the old version of Anaconda from your .bash_profile use the command below to edit the file using the nano editor.
From the image above, notice there is a newer Version of Anaconda. Simply remove the older version of Anaconda. Type control + X to exit out of nano.
Save changes by typing Y.
Close that terminal and open a new one. You should be okay now. Keep in mind that this isn’t the only issue you can have when installing Anaconda, but it is a very common issue.
Conclusion
![Download anaconda for machine learning Download anaconda for machine learning](/uploads/1/2/4/7/124799630/190264449.jpg)
This tutorial provided a quick guide to install Anaconda on Mac as well as dealing with a common installation issue. A graphical install of Anaconda isn’t the only way to install Anaconda as you can Install Anaconda by a Command Line Installer, but it is the easiest. If you aren’t sure what to do after installing Anaconda, here are a few things you can do:
- If you would like to learn more about Anaconda, you can learn about more here.
- If you want to start coding on your local computer, you can check out the the Jupyter Notebook Definitive Guide to learn how to code in Jupyter Notebooks.
- If you want to learn Python, you can check out DataCamp's Intro to Python for Data Science course.
If you any questions or thoughts on the tutorial, feel free to reach out in the comments below or through Twitter.
Python for Mac OS X
Python comes pre-installed on Mac OS X so it is easy to startusing. However, to take advantage of the latest versions ofPython, you will need to download and install newer versionsalongside the system ones. The easiest way to do that is toinstall one of the binary installers for OS X from thePython Download page. Installers areavailable for the latest Python 3 and Python 2 releases thatwill work on all Macs that run Mac OS X 10.5 and later.
Python releases include IDLE, Python's built-in interactivedevelopment environment. If you download and install Pythonfrom the release page, you may also need to download and installa newer version of Tcl/Tk for OS X. See theIDLE and Tkinter on OS X page formore information.
You can run a Python interpreter by double-clicking onApplications / Utilities / Terminal and typing python3 (if you'veinstalled a version of Python 3) or python (to use Python 2) inthe window that opens up. You can also launch IDLE for the Pythonversion you have installed by double-clicking its icon inthe appropriate Python version folder in the Applications folderor you can also just type idle3 or idle in a terminal window.
There are many thousands of additional Python software packagesavailable through PyPI, the PythonPackage Index. We recommend you use thepip tool to simplifyinstalling and managing additional packages. pip is includedwith Python 3.4 releases; for earlier releases, follow the pipinstall instructions.
Among the packages available through PyPI are some that arespecifically for OS X environments. Among these are:
- pyobjc which providesa bridge between Python and Objective-C, allowing you to writefull-featured native Cocoa applications in pure Python.
- py2app which allowsyou to make standalone OS X double-clickable application bundlesand plugins from Python scripts.
For more information about Python on OS X, see the mailing list and archivesfor thePython-Macintosh Special Interest Group.
Anaconda Python Download Windows 10
Alternative Packages for Mac OS X.
Download Anaconda 3 For Mac
- ActiveState ActivePython(commercial and community versions, including scientific computing modules).
- Enthought Python DistributionThe Enthought Python Distribution provides scientists with a comprehensive setof tools to perform rigorous data analysis and visualization.
Python and a comprehensive set of third-party packages and libraries are alsoavailable from several open source package manager projects for OS X,including: