Resetting and reinstalling Python

On Ubuntu (Mate) 18.04.1 LTS

My PYTHONPATH is

:/home/jim/ytini/yt-conda/bin:/home/jim/ytini/yt-conda/sbin
$python -V 

returns

Python 2.7.16 :: Anaconda, Inc. 

So my question is, how do I start from a blank slate. ie remove ALL Python installs and reinstall a new version or Python 2.7?

2 Answers

Maybe you would be knowing this and it is not a solution to your question but

Python 2.7 will not be maintained past 2020. Originally, there was no official date. Recently, that date has been updated to January 1, 2020.

Please avoid using Python 2.7

As I can see, you are probably using an older version of the Anaconda. Instead of removing the Python itself, I would rather either update the conda or remove it completely(the official manual is here) and get a new version from the website. By default, the following command should remove Conda:

rm -rf ~/miniconda

If is doesn't work, try conda or anaconda instead of miniconda

As for updating, you can run update conda in the terminal. Each version allows you to use multiple Python versions in the separate environments, so I believe it is the best solution.