Anyone updating their macOS to Monterey 12.3 will find that they suddenly no longer have the system-provided Python 2.
The reason for this is that Apple removed the system-provided Python 2 installation (details).
So a workaround/solution for this is to use pyenv to install Python 2.7 (or any other specific version you need).
- Install
pyenv
withbrew
to manage different Python versions:brew install pyenv
- List all installable versions with
pyenv install --list
- Install Python 2.7.18 with
pyenv install 2.7.18
- List installed versions with
pyenv versions
- Set global python version with
pyenv global 2.7.18
- Add
eval "$(pyenv init --path)"
to~/.zprofile
(or~/.bash_profile
or~/.zshrc
, whichever you need) - Relaunch the shell and check that Python works, or run
$ source ~/.zprofile
(Thanks masoud soroush!)