Python Virtual Environment Setup: Commands, Structure, and Sample Program 🐍👩‍💻👨‍💻

Whether you're building data pipelines, web apps, or experimenting with AI models, managing project dependencies is crucial. That’s where Python virtual environments come into play.

📚 Table of Contents

• 🔍 What is a Python Virtual Environment?
• ⚙️ Prerequisites
• 💻 Virtual Environment Setup by OS
  • 🖥 Windows
  • 🍎 macOS / 🐧 Linux
  • 🧪 Verify the Environment
• 📁 Virtual Environment Directory Structure
• ✅ Steps to Setup a Project
• 🧾 Sample Program: main.py
• 💡 Bonus Tips
• 📌 Conclusion

🔍 What is a Python Virtual Environment?

A virtual environment is an isolated environment for Python projects. It allows you to manage dependencies separately for each project, preventing conflicts between libraries.

A virtual environment helps you keep each Python project separate on the same computer.

It lets you use specific versions of packages for each project without interfering with other projects or your system.

This logical separation makes it easy to manage multiple projects with different requirements at the same time.

⚙️ Prerequisites

• Ensure Python is installed:

python --version    # or python3 --version

If not, download Python.

💻 Virtual Environment Setup by OS

🖥 Windows

1. Open Command Prompt or PowerShell
2. Create a virtual environment

python -m venv env

Replace env with your desired environment name.

.

🔧 Creating a Python Virtual Environment with a Specific Version

Setting up a virtual environment with a specific Python version ensures your project dependencies remain isolated and compatible. Below are different ways to create a Environment using the version you want:

• ✅ Using python3.x (Linux/macOS)

python3.10 -m venv venv

This creates a virtual environment named venv using Python 3.10 (if installed).

• ✅ Using py -3.x (Windows)

py -3.10 -m venv venv

This is the preferred way on Windows when managing multiple Python versions via the Python Launcher (py).

• Activate the environment

.\env\Scripts\activate

or

• Command Prompt : env\Scripts\activate.bat
• Powershell : env\Scripts\Activate.ps1

🍎 macOS / 🐧 Linux

1. Open Terminal
2. Create the virtual environment

python3 -m venv env

1. Activate the environment

source env/bin/activate

🧪 Verify the Environment

• which python # Linux/macOS
• where python # Windows

You should see the path pointing to your local env folder.

📁 Virtual Environment Directory Structure

project-folder/
│
├── env/                     # Virtual environment directory
│   ├── bin/ or Scripts/     # Executables (python, pip)
│   ├── include/             # Header files
│   ├── lib/                 # Installed packages
│   └── pyvenv.cfg           # Config file
│
├── main.py                  # Your Python script
└── requirements.txt         # Project dependencies (optional)

🐾 Steps to Setup a Project

• Create a project folder

mkdir myproject && cd myproject

• Create the virtual environment

python -m venv env

• Activate it

### Windows
.\env\Scripts\activate

### macOS/Linux
source env/bin/activate

• Install packages

pip install requests

• Freeze requirements

pip freeze > requirements.txt

• Run your Python program

python main.py

After you activate environment it will show as shown in image:

🧾 Sample Program: main.py

import requests

def getpost():
    # Make a GET request to a public API
    url = "https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts/1"
    response = requests.get(url)

    # Print the response content Json
    #print(response.json())
    if response.status_code == 200:
        print("Request was successful!")
        data = response.json()
        print("User ID{user_id} Title: {title} Body: {body}".format(user_id=data['userId'], title=data['title'], body=data['body']))
    else:
        print("Request failed with status code:", response.status_code)
    # Check the status code
    print(f"Status Code: {response.status_code}")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    getpost()

💡 Bonus Tips

• To deactivate the environment:

deactivate

• To delete the virtual environment:

rm -rf env     # macOS/Linux
rmdir /s env   # Windows

• Use requirements.txt to share dependencies with teammates:

pip install -r requirements.txt

Conclusion

Using a virtual environment keeps your Python projects clean and manageable. It’s an essential skill for every developer.

One does not simply pip install without a virtual environment