Cant change python interpreter in Visual Studio Code on Mac

Question

In my console (iterm2) which python gives /Users/anders/anaconda3/bin/python

In Visual Studio Code's built in terminal which python gives /usr/bin/python

Since I want to use anacondas python installation I use CMD+SHIFT+P(Python: Select Interpreter) and there I see ~/anaconda3/bin/python so I select that one.

However this does not take effect in my terminal. I have tried the following to make it reflect when doing which python

• Open a new terminal tab
• Restart program

And if I go back to confirm active interpreter, it does say anaconda. But still it uses the one from /usr/bin/python. Whats going on here?

update

echo $PATH in visual studio code

/usr/local/opt/node@8/bin:
/usr/local/bin:
/usr/bin:
/bin:
/usr/sbin:
/sbin:
~/bin:
/Users/anders/anaconda3/bin:
/usr/local/opt/node@8/bin:
/Users/anders/.composer/vendor/bin:
/Users/anders/.composer/vendor/bin

echo $PATH in iterm2

/Users/anders/anaconda3/bin:
/usr/local/opt/node@8/bin:
/usr/local/bin:
/usr/bin:
/bin:
/usr/sbin:
/sbin:
~/bin:
/Users/anders/.composer/vendor/bin

So VS code does something to my PATH but I don't see the pattern.

echo $SHELL gives /bin/bash Putting export SHELL="/Applications/iTerm.app/Contents/MacOS/iTerm2" in my bash_profile does make VS code to open iterm2 on CMD+ALT+C, but not when switching to the integrated terminal.

I put the following settings in Visual studio code settings (CMD+,)

• Terminal: Explorer Kind external
• Terminal>External: Osx Exec /Applications/iTerm.app/Contents/MacOS/iTerm2

Also tried

• Terminal: Explorer Kind integrated
• Terminal>External: Osx Exec /Applications/iTerm.app/Contents/MacOS/iTerm2

but both of them spawns a new iTerm window that is not integrated.

Answer 1

Maybe Virtual Studio Code does not use the same shell that you're using with iTerm2? According to the docs on the integrated terminal, the shell that is being used is the one which is set by the $SHELL environment variable. Inspect it with:

echo $SHELL

Furthermore, which scans your $PATH for an executable and return the first one found. So compare your settings there, too:

echo $PATH

If that is the issue, you can change $PATH, so it will find the python in /Users/anders/anaconda3/bin instead of /usr/bin.

Finally, it might help you to set an alias for python in the Visual Studio Code integrated terminal. You can set that up with:

$ alias python
bash: alias: python: not found
$ alias python=/Users/anders/anaconda3/bin/python
$ alias python
alias python='/Users/anders/anaconda3/bin/python'

(which might still show the other path, but if you run python, you'll get the one from the alias.)

Answer 2

I found a way to reset VS Code such that it works again.

Step one: Reset your $PATH variable -> this is temporary because all sorts of funky stuff starts to happen if you reset this:

$cd #go to home directory

$nano .bash_profile

# while in nano:

\export PATH="[path to anaconda python3]"

# save and exit

# reset .bash_profile

$. .bash_profile

now we need to set PATH to what it was, but nanowill no longer work, so we put following into the terminal:

$usr/bin/nano ~/.bash_profile

delete the line "\export PATH="[path to anaconda python3]""

# reset .bash_profile again

$. .bash_profile

Now if you open up VS Code (or a new terminal in VS Code), it should work!