Beginner Python – Creating Virtual Environment

For every project that I am working on, I create a virtual environment for it so that whatever libraries I have installed are distinct and separate from other project and system libraries.

Beginner Python – Creating Virtual Environment

• Folder for Projects
  • Have a folder where you create all the projects you are working on
    • Create a folder called Projects to have all of your project in one place
• Create a directory for Creating Virtual Environments
  • Within the Projects folder, create a folder of your new project i.e. a car deals project has a folder called “autoprice”.
  • Open up your terminal
  • Change Directory (cd) and go within the project folder i.e. “autoprice”
  • Input the following commands (You need to have virtualenv installed already)
  • virtualenv nameofenv_env (i.e. virtualenv autoprice_env)
    • This will install setup tools, and pip
    • I just use _env as a self-reference that the folder is a virtual environment folder
  • Important to note, do not mix-up folder of projects with folder of virtual environment. Virtual Environments are merely a way for you to separate out packages and dependencies projects to projects.
  • Environments are not for your project files.
  • Creating an Environment with a Specific Version of Python (2.6 for example)
    • virtualenv -p /usr/local/bin/python2.6 env_name
• Activating the newly created Environment
  • source nameofenv_env/bin/activate
  • You should now be in your new environment
• Validating Which Environment You are In
  • which python
  • You should see the source be in the newly created environment directory
  • which pip
    • You should see the source be in the newly created environment directory
  • pip list
    • Only displays setup tools of the newly created virtualenv and non of the system tools
• Installing additional packages in the newly created Python Environment
  • pip install lumpy
  • pip install pytz
  • pip install psutil
  • You should the above packages in the newly created environment
• Exporting Packages and Their Version Numbers to another Environment / Project
  • pip freeze –local > requirements.txt
  • cat requirements.txt
  • Go to the environment where you want to install all these packages
  • pip install -r requirements.txt
• Exit Python Virtual Environment
  • deactivate
• Delete Python Environment
  • Deactivate Python Environment first
  • rm -rf nameofenv_env

Read Learn to Code in Python to see how I got started with Python development