
What is virtual environment?
Virtual environment is a space or tool which helps to keep libraries or packages for different projects separate by creating virtual environments.
In this post I will list down all popular commands to work with python virtual environment with Anaconda. Before that let’s understand why python virtual environment is required.
Why do we need virtual environment?
Let’s assume you are working on a web application where you are using Django 1.11 and now you want to start another project where you need Django 2.0.
That means you have to use both Django 1.11 and Django 2.0 at the same time.
In this kind of situations, virtual environment can be really useful to maintain libraries of both the projects.
Now let me list down popular commands for python virtual environment.
Note: All commands listed below for python with Anaconda. If you are not using Anaconda then the below commands may not work.
Python Virtual environment Commands
Create virtual environment with all basic packages
In below command, you need to specify the exact Python version (2.7, 3.6, 3.6.3, 3.7 etc.) you want to work with. It will create virtual environment with all basic packages of anaconda (like pandas, numpy, etc.).
conda create -n ENV_NAME python=3.6.3 anaconda
Create an isolated Conda environment
Create a completely isolated python virtual environment. No basic packages will be installed in it.
conda create -n ENV_NAME python=3.6.3
Conda Remove environment
Run the below command to remove a specific virtual environment through cmd.
conda env remove -n ENV_NAME
Conda list all Environments
Below command, to print all python virtual environments you have created.
conda env list
Conda Activate Virtual Environment
Below command to activate any specific virtual environment.
activate ENV_NAME
Print current environment
There are two ways to see the environment in which you are currently working in. 1. using python, 2. using command line
1. Using Python
In Python script write below code to print in which Python environment you are currently working
import sys
print (sys.prefix)
2. Using Command Line
You can also do that through command line by the below command.
pip -V
Get path of Conda environment variable
Below command to show the folder directory path of the current environment
echo %CONDA_PREFIX%
Conda list all packages in environment
By running below command you will get list of all python libraries installed inside current environment
conda list
Install Jupyter notebook in Conda environment
If you want to use Jupyter notebook inside any conda environment, you need to install it. To do that run below commands:
activate ENV_NAME
pip install --user ipykernel
python -m ipykernel install --user --name=ENV_NAME
Conclusion
In this post I tried to list all commands for virtual environment in conda which we mostly used day to day basis.
Please let me know in the comment section below if I missed mentioning any useful commands.