What is the difference between venv, pyvenv, pyenv, virtualenv, virtualenvwrapper, pipenv, etc. | Better Stack Community (2024)

FAQs

What is the difference between venv, pyvenv, pyenv, virtualenv, virtualenvwrapper, pipenv, etc. | Better Stack Community? ›

venv , pyvenv , and pyenv are all tools that can be used to create isolated Python environments. virtualenv and virtualenvwrapper are similar tools that can also create isolated Python environments. pipenv is a tool that combines virtualenv with pip , the Python package manager.

Virtualenvwrapper is a utility on top of virtualenv that adds a bunch of utilities that allow the environment folders to be created at a single place, instead of spreading around everywhere.

In summary, venv and virtualenv are similar in functionality but differ in implementation, where venv is a built-in module in Python 3 while virtualenv is a third-party tool. pyvenv is a deprecated tool that has been replaced by venv.

TLDR: There are three main options for creating and managing virtual environments in Python: pipenv , conda and venv . pipenv is superior to venv and conda . Learn to use pipenv first and you will not have to waste time learning the other two.

Create and Use Virtual Environments

venv (for Python 3) allows you to manage separate package installations for different projects. It creates a “virtual” isolated Python installation. When you switch projects, you can create a new virtual environment which is isolated from other virtual environments.

pyenv is a third-party tool that allows you to manage multiple Python versions on the same machine and create virtual environments. It is not related to venv or virtualenv , but it provides similar functionality. virtualenv is a third-party tool that allows you to create isolated Python environments.

Pip is the default package management tool for Python, allowing users to easily download, install, upgrade, and uninstall Python packages. Pyenv is used to manage Python versions, while Pipenv is used to manage packages, and Anaconda is a distribution of Python (think of it as a lazy package of Python).

One of the pros of using Pipenv is that you do not need to use pip and venv separately. Apart from this, Pipenv aims to solve several problems using requirements. txt files, such as nested dependencies or packages with multiple sub-dependencies, which might cause errors later while re-creating the code environment.

virtualenvwrapper is a set of extensions to Ian Bicking's virtualenv tool. The extensions include wrappers for creating and deleting virtual environments and otherwise managing your development workflow, making it easier to work on more than one project at a time without introducing conflicts in their dependencies.

Pipenv is a dependency manager for Python projects. If you're familiar with Node. js' npm or Ruby's bundler, it is similar in spirit to those tools. While pip can install Python packages, Pipenv is recommended as it's a higher-level tool that simplifies dependency management for common use cases.

What is the difference between Pyenv and pip? ›

Once activated, you can install packages in the virtual environment using pip . pyenv is used to isolate Python versions. For example, you may want to test your code against Python 2.7, 3.6, 3.7 and 3.8, so you'll need a way to switch between them. Once activated, it prefixes the PATH environment variable with ~/.

If you're dealing with complex dependencies, Conda env is the way to go. If you need to switch between different Python versions, consider pyenv or virtualenv. The best tool is the one that fits your project's needs and makes your development process smoother.

pip vs pip3 vs pip2

So, if you want to make sure that pip operates on your Python 3 environment or your Python 2 environment, use the pip3 or pip2 commands, respectively. By contrast, the pip command operates on whichever Python environment is appropriate to the context.

In your Python code, import the dotenv module, and use load_dotenv() to load variables from the . env file. Access the values using os. getenv(“KEY”) for each key-value pair defined in the .

This is really simple. Start by changing directory into the root of our project directory, and then use the virtualenv command-line tool to create a new environment: $ mkdir myproject $ cd myproject $ virtualenv env New python executable in env/bin/python Installing setuptools, pip, wheel... done.

virtualenvwrapper is a set of extensions to Ian Bicking's `virtualenv. <http://pypi.python.org/pypi/virtualenv>`_ tool. The extensions include. wrappers for creating and deleting virtual environments and otherwise.