Python Virtual Environments in Visual Studio Code

---

open a terminal:

ctrl+`

• Make sure it is a command prompt (cmd) and not powershell or something else

update pip:

python -m pip install --upgrade pip

install virtualenv:

python -m pip install virtualenv

create a virtual environment called "env":

python -m virtualenv env

• The environment can have any name, "env" is my preference

activate the virtual environment:

env\Scripts\activate

• VS Code should automatically activate your virtual environment when you open new terminals as long as you select "env" as your python interpreter. Use ctrl+shift+p to view the command palette and search for "python: select interpreter" if it is not automatically selected.

Within your virtual environment, see what packages are installed:

pip freeze

Install required packages

pip install <package_name>

Write all dependencies (installed packages) to a file:

pip freeze > requirements.txt

• you don't need to create the txt file beforehand

Install all dependencies (packages) in requirements.txt:

pip install -r requirements.txt