Chicago Python Workshop/Setup/Linux interactive Python

Linux ships with Python installed, so the goal of this page is to make sure you can start a terminal and run Python from the command line.

 Open a Terminal command prompt. You can find the Terminal application at Applications/Accessories/Terminal, or it may already be on your menu bar. To start Python, type

python

at the comand prompt and hit enter. You should see something like Python 2.7.1 (r252:60911, Jan 24 2011, 17:44:40) [GCC 4.3.2] on linux2 Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information. >>>

The  indicates that you are at a Python prompt. Exit the Python prompt by typing

exit

and hitting enter. Now you're back at the Linux command prompt (which looks something like ). 

Success!
Practice these steps until you feel comfortable navigating to a command prompt, starting Python, and exiting Python.