Use Brew Gcc and Python Compilers on Mac | Usr/local/bin appearing as a file

Question

I have installed Gcc compiler and python, using Homebrew on my Mac (Monterey, version 12.0.1). However, the default compilers used are still the inbuilt ones (clang and python 2.8). I wanted to change this.

Solutions on the web require me to move some file to the 'folder' /usr/local/bin. However, in my laptop, /usr/local/bin is actually a file.

How should I proceed?

Thanks !

Answer 1

As Charles pointed out in his comment,

It's probably a file because you tried to mv something to it before creating it. If you just delete the file and create a directory, the net effect will be to undo that error. ...actually, it looks like the faulty command was ln -s /usr/bin/gcc /usr/local/bin -- that would have worked as-intended by its author (creating a /usr/local/bin/gcc) only if /usr/local/bin existed as a directory first.