pip installation /usr/local/opt/python/bin/python2.7: bad interpreter: No such file or directory

Question

I don\'t know what\'s the deal but I am stuck following some stackoverflow solutions which gets nowhere. Can you please help me on this?

  Monas-MacBook-Pro:         


        

Answer 1

TLDR: pip found in your path a is a symlink and the referenced location no longer contains the executable. You need to update the symlink.

It helps to understand a couple of things.

• When you type something like python or pip you os will search /etc/paths to try to find the associated executable for that command. You can see everything in there by using cat /etc/paths.
• To determine the location of the executable that your shell will use there is a handy command which, you can type which python or which pip. This will tell you the location of the executable that your shell will use for that command.
• This part is key. The location may or may not be an actual executable, it could be a symbolic link (symlink).
• Its common for /etc/paths to contain /usr/local/bin, its also common for /usr/local/bin to be a bunch of symlinks to the actual executables. Not the executables themselves.
• If the executable at the symlinks referenced location doesn't exist you will get an error like bad interpreter: No such file or directory

With that being said the problem is likely that pip is a symlink and the linked executable probably doesn't exist at that location anymore. To fix it do the following

1. Find the location of the executable - which pip (gives something like this /usr/local/bin/pip)
2. Check the symlink reference location ls -l /usr/local/bin/pip | grep pip (give something like this pip -> /usr/local/opt/python@3.7/bin/pip3)
3. Check if the executable exists at the referenced location ls /usr/local/opt/python@3.7/bin/pip3 (you are having this issue so it probably doesn't).
4. Remove the old symlink rm -r /usr/local/bin/pip
5. Find the actual pip executable if using homebrew it will be in /usr/local/opt you can use something like ls /usr/local/opt/ | grep python to find it.
6. Add the right symlink for the pip executable. ln -s /usr/local/opt/python@3.7/bin/pip3 /usr/local/bin/pip