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Belkast
Belkast

Use a Python virtual environment

·
Linux Scripting
Table of Contents

Introduction
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A Python virtual environment is an isolated environment that allows you to manage dependencies for different Python projects separately. It creates a dedicated directory that contains:

  • A copy of the Python interpreter
  • A separate site-packages directory for installed libraries
  • Its own pip instance

Once activated, pip install installs packages only in that environment.

Why use it?
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  • Avoid conflicts: Different projects can require different versions of the same package
  • Reproducibility: Share exact dependency versions across teams
  • Clean system: Keep project packages separate from your global Python installation
  • Easy management: Install, upgrade, and remove packages without affecting other projects

What we use
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Belkast makes use of the Python modules listed below:

venv directory structure
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The screenshot below shows the command that was run, and the resulting test python virtual environment directory struture.

python venv directory

ZSH
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The zsh configuration to assist with setting up the Python virtual environment is shown below.

py_i function
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function py_i() {
  if [[ "$1" =~ ^.+$ ]] then;
    cd "$HOME/Documents"
    mkdir -p python3/venv
    cd "python3/venv"
    python3 -m venv $1
    cd $1
    echo $SHELL
    source bin/activate
  else
    echo "Directory is required!"
  fi
}

py_d alias
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alias py_d="deactivate"