This document uses Python 2.7.13 as an example to demonstrate how to install and configure Python in Windows and Linux.

Windows

1. Download

Go to the Python official website and download an appropriate version. In this example, we download Python 2.7.13.

2. Install

Double click the Python installer package, and install Python as instructed.

3. Configure environment variables

(1) Once Python is installed, restart your computer as instructed.
(2) Right-click on the "Computer" or "My Computer" desktop icon, and select Properties > Advanced system settings > Environment Variables. In System variables, locate Path, or click New to create a variable named as such.
(3) Click Edit > Edit Text, and add ;C:\Python27 (replace it with your own Python installation path) to the end of the “Path”.
(4) Click OK.

4. Test whether the configuration is successful

Click Start (or shortcut: Win+R) > Run (enter cmd) > OK (or press Enter), enter the Python command in the pop-up window, and press Enter. If Python version information appears, Python 2.7 has been installed successfully.

Linux

1. Check the Python version

Linux’s yum comes with Python. So check the default Python version first.

python -V

If it comes with Python 2.7 or above, ignore the following steps. Otherwise (for example, if it comes with Python 2.6.6), enter the following command:

yum groupinstall "Development tools"

2. Install the component used to compile Python

yum install zlib-devel bzip2-devel openssl-devel ncurses-devel sqlite-devel

3. Download and decompress Python 2.7

wget https://www.python.org/ftp/python/2.7.12/Python-2.7.12.tar.xz
tar xf Python-2.7.12.tar.xz

4. Compile and install Python

cd Python-2.7.12 //Enter the directory
./configure -prefix=/usr/local
make && make install //Install
make clean 
make distclean

5. Direct the Python command to Python 2.7

mv /usr/bin/python /usr/bin/python2.6.6
ln -s /usr/local/bin/python2.7 /usr/bin/python

6. Test whether the configuration is successful

python

If the information appears as shown below, Python 2.7 has been installed successfully.

Note：

If permission problems occur, try to add sudo to the beginning of your command.