macOS

If you have multiple versions installed with Brew, you can set the new one as your default:

$ brew unlink python@3.12
$ brew unlink python@3.8
$ brew link --force python@3.12

Check it:

$ python3 -V

$ which python

If another Python is picked ahead of the Brew versions, check the order of values in PATH and set in your shell config.

Link with overwrite, from AZ CLI instructions:

$ brew update && brew install python@3.10 && brew upgrade python@3.10
$ brew link --overwrite python@3.10

The active version of Python will be setup by Brew with a symlink:

> ls -l $(which python)
... /opt/homebrew/bin/python3 -> ../Cellar/python@3.13/3.13.1/bin/python3

You can make python without the 3 available by adding a symlink to one of the bin directories in your PATH.

e.g.

$ # For dir owned by root:
$ sudo ln -s /opt/homebrew/bin/python3 /usr/bin/python
$ # Or for user's directory`:
$ ln -s /opt/homebrew/bin/python3 ~/.local/bin/python
$ # Or use Homebrews' bin:
$ ln -s /opt/homebrew/bin/python3 /opt/homebrew/bin/python