Summary: in this tutorial, you’ll learn about Python virtual environments.

Why do you need Python virtual environments?

Python stores all system packages in a folder that you specify when installing Python.

Typically, most system packages locate at subfolders of a path specified in the sys.prefix.

To find this path, you can import the sys module and display it as follows:

Code language: JavaScript (javascript)

It’ll show something like this:

When you use pip to install third-party packages, Python stores these packages in a different folder specified by the site.getsitepackges() function:

Code language: JavaScript (javascript)

It returns something like:

Code language: JSON / JSON with Comments (json)

If you have several projects that use only standard library, you’ll be fine.

However, it’ll be a problem when you have some projects that use third-party packages.

Suppose you have two projects that use different versions of a library.

Since there’s only one location to store the third-party packages, you cannot store different versions at the same time.

Of course, you can use pip to switch between versions by installing/uninstalling a package. But it will be time-consuming and won’t scale.

This is where virtual environments come into play.

What is a virtual environment?

Python uses virtual environments to create an isolated environment for every project.

In other words, each project will have its own directory to store the third-party packages.

In case you have multiple projects that use different versions of a package, you can store them in separate folders (or virtual environments).

Python 3 includes the virtual environment module (venv) as a standard library. To create a virtual environment for a project, you use the pipenv tool.

In the next tutorial, you’ll learn how to:

• Install pipenv to manage virtual environments.
• Create a development workflow using virtual environments.

Summary

• A Python virtual environment creates an isolated environment for a Python project.
• Use pipenv tool to manage virtual environments.