node.js - Can't find Python executable "python"

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gyp ERR! configure error 
gyp ERR! stack Error: Can't find Python executable "python", you can set the PYTHON env variable.
gyp ERR! stack     at failNoPython (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/node-gyp/lib/configure.js:103:14)
gyp ERR! stack     at /usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/node-gyp/lib/configure.js:42:11
gyp ERR! stack     at F (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/which/which.js:43:25)
gyp ERR! stack     at E (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/which/which.js:46:29)
gyp ERR! stack     at /usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/which/which.js:57:16
gyp ERR! stack     at Object.oncomplete (fs.js:107:15)
gyp ERR! System Linux 3.8.0-19-generic
gyp ERR! command "node" "/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/node-gyp/bin/node-gyp.js" "rebuild"
gyp ERR! cwd /root/Dropbox/nodeApps/nodeApp/node_modules/iconv
gyp ERR! node -v v0.10.28
gyp ERR! node-gyp -v v0.13.0
gyp ERR! not ok 
npm ERR! iconv@2.1.0 install: `node-gyp rebuild`
npm ERR! Exit status 1
npm ERR! 
npm ERR! Failed at the iconv@2.1.0 install script.
npm ERR! This is most likely a problem with the iconv package,
npm ERR! not with npm itself.
npm ERR! Tell the author that this fails on your system:
npm ERR!     node-gyp rebuild
npm ERR! You can get their info via:
npm ERR!     npm owner ls iconv
npm ERR! There is likely additional logging output above.
npm ERR! System Linux 3.8.0-19-generic
npm ERR! command "node" "/usr/local/bin/npm" "i"
npm ERR! cwd /root/Dropbox/nodeApps/nodeApp
npm ERR! node -v v0.10.28
npm ERR! npm -v 1.4.10
npm ERR! code ELIFECYCLE
npm ERR! 
npm ERR! Additional logging details can be found in:
npm ERR!     /root/Dropbox/nodeApps/nodeApp/npm-debug.log
npm ERR! not ok code 0
although I installed python and can run it from console:
# python
Python 2.7.3 (default, May  9 2014, 12:18:32) 
[GCC 4.8.2] on linux2
and set up PATH in ~/.bashrc:
export PYTHONPATH=$PYTHONPATH:/Python-2.7.3
export PATH=$PATH:/Python-2.7.3
and done . ~/.bashrc
                the problem was because of ~/.bashrc was not loaded on ssh login. I put PATH vars to ~/.bash_profile and it's ok
– Maxim Yefremov
                May 9, 2014 at 18:50
                I had the PYTHON var set in ~/.zshrc but kept getting the error after restarting iTerm, so I ended up with this symlink hack: $ which python /usr/bin/python $ sudo ln -s /usr/bin/python /usr/local/bin/python
– kwcto
                Jan 28, 2016 at 7:21
For anyone encountering this issue on Ubuntu 16.04...

node-gyp can't use Python 3.5.X which seems to the be the default that ships with 16.04. I read somewhere that 16.04 was supposed to ship with Python2 as well but I can't find it on my install.   
I fixed the above issue by:
apt-get update     
apt-get install python2.7    
ln -s /usr/bin/python2.7 /usr/bin/python 
Now when node-gyp goes looking for python it will hit your Python2.7 install and load correctly.
                You can't put ln in bashrc though. It requires sudo access. How do you do this permanently?
– towi_parallelism
                Jul 3, 2019 at 12:58
                @towi_parallelism You can set the PYTHON environment variable. Do it like this: export PYTHON="$(which python2.7)". It does seem rather silly that node-gyp is still locked to Python v2.7 when it's being retired in just 5 months......
– starbeamrainbowlabs
                Jul 16, 2019 at 15:21
                I am giving an up vote to this answer. I am using ubuntu 20.04 in which python 2.7 was not installed. Main python version is 3.8. I am using angular cli 9. I was getting this error after npm install " import sys; print "%s.%s.%s" % sys.version_info[:3];" and found out that there is syntax change in newer version of python. Based on that, I installed pyhon 2.7 and set npm config python path to 2.7. I worked after that
– Nirav Shah
                Sep 27, 2021 at 7:47
In your bash session where you're able to just type python and get a valid response, type in which python and note the full path location of the python binary. Take that location and put that into your PYTHONPATH and PATH environment variables, except without the python at the end.
For example, which python gives me:
/usr/local/bin/python
so I would write:
export PYTHONPATH=$PYTHONPATH:/usr/local/bin
export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/bin
in my ~/.bashrc.
There is a simple and safe way
Place this into ~/.bashrc or ~/.bash_aliases file:
alias python=python3
After adding the above in the file, run source ~/.bashrc or source ~/.bash_aliases
This solution worked for my Ubuntu
see the origin answer here
                In the question, it is explicitly stated that python2.7 is already installed and can be run from the shell using python.
– He3lixxx
                Jun 1, 2021 at 12:59
                I didn't have the problem that OP had, but I was seeing something similar, and this fix did the trick.  (In my case, I'm on Ubuntu and didn't have Python2 installed.)
– Eric Walker
                May 4, 2022 at 23:01
Sometimes it is not only related to NPM. So, a system-wide solution is required. Then, just create a system-wide symlink for 'python' to your current python path.
For example, for my Ubuntu 20 setup (be root):
ln -s /usr/bin/python3 /usr/bin/python
Then verify the symlink:
ls -l /usr/bin/python
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 Feb 19 13:55 /usr/bin/python -> /usr/bin/python3
                In addition to your answer, in my case, it was needed python2. I did sudo apt install python2 and then as you said sudo ln -s /usr/bin/python2 /usr/bin/python
– Jafar Amini
                Apr 4, 2022 at 7:32
I had the same problem. You can solve it like this:
sudo apt install python2
npm config set python "/usr/bin/python2.7"
But if you don't want to downgrade python3..
npm install -g node-gyp@latest
npm config set python "/usr/bin/python3.8"
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