Accidentally deleted pip on my system when downgrading Python, now pip won't install

Question

I downgraded my Python from 3.9 to 3.8, but Pip was still installing to 3.9 after the downgrade so I uninstalled Pip. I tried to reinstalling pip using: python get-pip.py from pip's documentation and pip install --upgrade --force pip , and both gives the same error:

ERROR: Exception:
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/Users/Dan/Library/Python/3.8/lib/python/site-packages/pip/_internal/cli/base_command.py", line 180, in _main
    status = self.run(options, args)
  File "/Users/Dan/Library/Python/3.8/lib/python/site-packages/pip/_internal/cli/req_command.py", line 204, in wrapper
    return func(self, options, args)
  File "/Users/Dan/Library/Python/3.8/lib/python/site-packages/pip/_internal/commands/install.py", line 449, in run
    self._handle_target_dir(
  File "/Users/Dan/Library/Python/3.8/lib/python/site-packages/pip/_internal/commands/install.py", line 503, in _handle_target_dir
    shutil.rmtree(target_item_dir)
  File "/usr/local/Cellar/python@3.8/3.8.10/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.8/lib/python3.8/shutil.py", line 718, in rmtree
    _rmtree_safe_fd(fd, path, onerror)
  File "/usr/local/Cellar/python@3.8/3.8.10/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.8/lib/python3.8/shutil.py", line 675, in _rmtree_safe_fd
    onerror(os.unlink, fullname, sys.exc_info())
  File "/usr/local/Cellar/python@3.8/3.8.10/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.8/lib/python3.8/shutil.py", line 673, in _rmtree_safe_fd
    os.unlink(entry.name, dir_fd=topfd)
PermissionError: [Errno 13] Permission denied: 'RECORD'

When I run pip in terminal, I get:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/local/bin/pip", line 5, in <module>
    from pip._internal.cli.main import main
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'pip'

When I run which pip , I get:

/usr/local/bin/pip

Answer 1

The PermissionError you get makes me think you're not running it as sudo, especially since it's trying to use os.unlink. Try as sudo and see if it works then!