I have installed the latest Python for Win10 from Releases for Windows. Just typing py in the Command Prompt Window starts Python.

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.15048]
(c) 2017 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\sg7>py
Python 3.6.3 (v3.6.3:2c5fed8, Oct  3 2017, 18:11:49) [MSC v.1900 64 bit (AMD64)] on win32
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>>`enter code here`

Testing:

>>> print("hello!")
hello!
>>>

Please be aware that in my case Python was installed in C:\Users\sg7\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python36> directory

C:\Users\sg7\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python36>dir
 Volume in drive C is Windows7_OS
 Volume Serial Number is 1226-12D1

 Directory of C:\Users\sg7\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python36

08/05/2018  07:38 AM    <DIR>          .
08/05/2018  07:38 AM    <DIR>          ..
12/18/2017  09:12 AM    <DIR>          DLLs
12/18/2017  09:12 AM    <DIR>          Doc
12/18/2017  09:12 AM    <DIR>          include
12/18/2017  09:12 AM    <DIR>          Lib
12/18/2017  09:12 AM    <DIR>          libs
10/03/2017  07:17 PM            30,334 LICENSE.txt
10/03/2017  07:17 PM           362,094 NEWS.txt
10/03/2017  07:15 PM           100,504 python.exe
10/03/2017  07:12 PM            58,520 python3.dll
10/03/2017  07:12 PM         3,610,776 python36.dll
10/03/2017  07:15 PM            98,968 pythonw.exe
08/05/2018  07:38 AM           196,096 Removescons.exe
08/05/2018  07:38 AM            26,563 scons-wininst.log
08/05/2018  07:38 AM    <DIR>          Scripts
12/18/2017  09:12 AM    <DIR>          tcl
12/18/2017  09:12 AM    <DIR>          Tools
06/09/2016  11:53 PM            87,888 vcruntime140.dll
               9 File(s)      4,571,743 bytes
              10 Dir(s)  20,228,898,816 bytes free

When I am at C:\Users\sg7> directory level python can be invoked by typing AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python36\python

C:\Users\samg>AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python36\python
Python 3.6.3 (v3.6.3:2c5fed8, Oct  3 2017, 18:11:49) [MSC v.1900 64 bit (AMD64)] on win32
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>>

Newer Python 3.7 will be installed at: C:\Users\YourUserNameHere\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python37

If you wish you can add to your path environment variable: %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python36

One can run the python installer again and click Modify button.

Select py launcher checkbox.

Then click install button and wait for the installation completes.

After all of these, py command will come back to the terminal.

This could be a duplicate answer, but the following steps has worked for me.

Note: This is in the case of Anaconda is installed instead of vanilla Python in Windows environment.

Under System variables:

1. Create a variable

PYTHONHOME = C:\Users\username\Anaconda3

2. Add the below 2 entries under PATH system variable:

%PYTHONHOME%

C:\Users\username\Anaconda3\Scripts

3. Close the command prompt if opened earlier and try any python command (Note: no need to restart the OS):

example: python --version
output: Python 3.7.1

Hope this was useful. Cheers!

No, that's not safe or common at all.

• Historically python refers to python2, not python3
• Many python(2) scripts will break if run using the py3 interpreter
• The reverse is also true: Many py3 scripts will break if run using the py2 interpreter.
• There is no graceful failure - a script run using the wrong interpreter simply spits out a series of cryptic error and quits.

See PEP 394 for all the details on what the 'python' command should symlink to. Don't stop at the 8-year-old first paragraph, read the entire history section to see how the recommendations have changed over time.

Older releases of Ubuntu (16.04 and older) include both Python2 and Python3 with the default install. Changing python on these releases may break your system quite terribly.

Newer releases of Ubuntu (18.04 and newer) include only Python3 with the default install. However, Python2 is trivial to install (sudo apt install python2).

Python2 will reach End of Life during 2020, according to PEP 373. However, changing python afterward is still not recommended at present.

py is itself located in C:\Windows (which is always part of the PATH), which is why you find it. When you installed Python, you didn't check the box to add it to your PATH, which is why it isn't there. In general, it's best to use the Windows Python Launcher, py.exe anyway, so this is no big deal. Just use py for launching consistently, and stuff will just work. Similarly, if py.exe was associated with the .py extension at installation time, a standard shebang line (details in PEP linked above) will let you run the script without even typing py.

I don't know precisely what VSCode uses to find Python (using py.exe directly, using a copy of Python that ships with the editor, performing registry lookup, a config file that just says where to find it, etc.), but that's not really relevant to running your scripts yourself.