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