Getting a syntax error when I type pthon on Ubuntu 18.04

Question

When I type echo $PYTHONPATH I get

/usr/lib/python3.6

But when I type python as user root I get

 File "/usr/lib/python3.6/site.py", line 183
file=sys.stderr)
    ^
SyntaxError: invalid syntax

What is the reason for this error ?

When I type python3.6 I get no errors. If this question needs to be moved to UNIX SE please let me know.

AFAIK, the default python on Ubuntu 18.04 is still python2.7 - the error suggests you're executing python2 with a PYTHONPATH that's only appropriate for python3 — steeldriver, Jul 20, 2019 at 12:42
@steeldriver Thanks for your response. How can I fix the problem ? — gansub, Jul 20, 2019 at 12:46
That depends - what are you trying to do? why (and how) did you set your PYTHONPATH as /usr/lib/python3.6? — steeldriver, Jul 20, 2019 at 12:52
@steeldriver I guess I do not have to set it. If I unset the PYTHONPATH will the error go away ? — gansub, Jul 20, 2019 at 12:55

steeldriver · Accepted Answer · 2019-07-20 13:06:50Z

2

The error you are getting is consistent with trying to run the python3.6/site.py file using python2.7:

$ python2.7 /usr/lib/python3.6/site.py
  File "/usr/lib/python3.6/site.py", line 183
    file=sys.stderr)
        ^
SyntaxError: invalid syntax

Since python2.7 is still the default for Ubuntu 18.04, you should avoid setting your PYTHONPATH to a python3-specific value.

answered Jul 20, 2019 at 13:06

steeldriver

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This worked for me in a case where bzr under msys2 was giving this error. I guessed bzr was based on python 2, so I changed PYTHONPATH from lib/python3.8/site-packages to lib/python2.7/site-packages to fix the error (these dirs are not under /usr in msys2, but otherwise the issue is the same).
– sancho.s ReinstateMonicaCellio
May 12, 2020 at 1:46

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