A real quick and simple note on creating Virtual Environments in Python.

Setup

You'll need Python3 installed, with Pip, and VirtualEnv installed.

virtualenv with pip

First, install virtualenv using pip

pip3 install virtualenv

Then create a virtualenv at the path ~/venv/myvenv

mac or windows

#method 1
python3 -m venv ~/venv/myvenv


#method 2 
virtualenv ~/venv/myvenv -p python3

Don't forget to activate

unix

source ~/venv/myvenv/bin/activate

windows

~/venv/myvenv/Scripts/activate.ps1

Of course, you'll validate that you're activated by the parenthesized env name

(myvenv) $ which python
/home/dir/venv/myvenv/bin/python

unix

You can "shabang" your python scripts directly to this instance of python that includes your modules, that way your scripts always run with the correct version. Keep in mind the portability of your script though, as this path may change on other devices.

#!/home/dir/venv/myvenv/bin/python

Exit your venv with the command:

deactivate

Using pipenv

Using pipenv can simplify the virtualenv process tremendously

You can install with your local package manager (apt, dnf, pkg, pip, brew)

windows

pip install pipenv

mac

brew install pipenv

Navigate to your development directory and run this to create a Python3 environment.

pipenv --three

The Pipfile manages what's needed for the project. Now use pipenv to install packages

pipenv install bs4

output

Installing bs4...
Adding bs4 to Pipfile's [packages]...
✔ Installation Succeeded
Pipfile.lock not found, creating...
Locking [dev-packages] dependencies...
Locking [packages] dependencies...
Building requirements...
Resolving dependencies...
✔ Success!
Updated Pipfile.lock (8cf921)!
Installing dependencies from Pipfile.lock (8cf921)...
  🐍   ▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉ 0/0 — 00:00:00
To activate this project's virtualenv, run pipenv shell.
Alternatively, run a command inside the virtualenv with pipenv run.

You can run your script with any of these commands

###straight python from the project dir
.venv/bin/python bs4test.py


###from the pipenv shell
pipenv shell 
python bs4test.py


###with pipenv run 
pipenv run python bs4test.py

I'm still learning the tricks of pipenv, so I'll have another writeup on the value of pipenv in the future.

• AJ