Unfortunately Deleted /usr/bin/python

Question

Unfortunately I deleted the /usr/bin/python in my ubuntu 12.04 I went to /usr/bin/ and run

ls -al

then I got

lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root      64 Jul 13 14:58 python -> /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/Current/bin/python 

How do I link that python so that I can get python in terminal on running python

I also reinstalled python by

apt-get --purge --reinstall install python

I tried adding sym link like ln -s /usr/lib/python2.7/ /usr/bin/python then it thrown in ln: failed to create symbolic link/usr/bin/python': File exists`

Answer 1

1. Boot up in recovery mode or something. I guess your current system state won't make it to the GUI without Python.

2. Remove the current dead link.

   rm /usr/bin/python
   

3. Recreate the link

   ln -s /usr/bin/python2.7 /usr/bin/python
   

Don't forget to prepend the commands with sudo if you aren't root at that point.

Answer 2

Use the following commands:

sudo unlink /usr/bin/python                     #to delete the previous symbolic link
sudo ln -s /usr/lib/python2.7 /usr/bin/python   #to recreate the new correct symbolic link