
Install homebrew if you don't already have it and use it to install pyenv with brew install pyenv.The pyenv repo is pretty detailed on how to install for different systems and what it's actually doing, but here's the basic steps for mac: Modify your shell environment ( PATH) with shims so that when you do pyenv local 3.8.1, calling python will invoke the new interpreter instead of your system python.Doing pyenv install 3.8.1 will install python 3.8.1 under ~/.pyenv/versions/3.8.1. Install different python versions under some directory.

Essentially, pyenv can do two key things for you: I recommend using pyenv to manage your local python versions (both 2.x and 3.x) instead of installing new versions directly with homebrew or building new python versions from source manually.
