Virtual env (venv)

• This tutorial is from DjangoGirls.

Virtual environment

Before we install Django we will get you to install an extremely useful tool to help keep your coding environment tidy on your computer. It's possible to skip this step, but it's highly recommended. Starting with the best possible setup will save you a lot of trouble in the future!

So, let's create a virtual environment (also called a virtualenv). Virtualenv will isolate your Python/Django setup on a per-project basis. This means that any changes you make to one website won't affect any others you're also developing. Neat, right?

All you need to do is find a directory in which you want to create the virtualenv; your home directory, for example. On Windows, it might look like C:\Users\Name\ (where Name is the name of your login).

NOTE: On Windows, make sure that this directory does not contain accented or special characters; if your username contains accented characters, use a different directory, for example, C:\codersofcolour.

For this tutorial we will be using a new directory codersofcolour from your home directory:

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$ mkdir codersofcolour
$ cd codersofcolour

We will make a virtualenv called myvenv

Windows

To create a new virtualenv, you need to open the command prompt and run python -m venv myvenv. It will look like this:

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C:.........> python -m venv myvenv

Where myvenv is the name of your virtualenv. You can use any other name, but stick to lowercase and use no spaces, accents or special characters. It is also good idea to keep the name short – you'll be referencing it a lot!

## Linux and OS X We can create a virtualenv on both Linux and OS X by running python3 -m venv myvenv. It will look like this:

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$ python3 -m venv myvenv

myvenv is the name of your virtualenv. You can use any other name, but stick to lowercase and use no spaces. It is also a good idea to keep the name short as you'll be referencing it a lot! env. The general command will be in the format:

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$ python3 -m venv myvenv