Integrating exisiting Python Library to Anaconda

Question

I've been installing few Library/Toolkit for Python like NLTK, SciPy and NumPy on my Ubuntu. I would like to try to use Anaconda distribution though. Should I remove my existing libraries before installing Anaconda?

Answer 1

There is no need to remove your system Python. Anaconda sits alongside it. When it installs, it adds a line to your .bashrc that adds the Anaconda directory first in your PATH. This means that whenever you type python or ipython in the terminal, it will use the Anaconda Python (and the Anaconda Python will automatically use all the Anaconda Python libraries like numpy and scipy rather than the system ones). You should leave the system Python alone, as some system tools use it. The important points are:

• Whichever Python is first on your PATH is what gets used when you use Python in the terminal. If you create a conda environment with conda and use source activate it will put that environment first on the PATH.
• Each Python (Anaconda or the system) will use its own libraries and not look at the others (this is not true if you set the PYTHONPATH environment variable, but I recommend that you don't).