Here is how to create a virtual environment in Python.


On Windows:

Open Command Prompt (CMD), make sure the CMD is set to the folder where your project is, and execute:
py -3 -m venv env

That will create folder named env. To activate the environment execute:
env\Scripts\activate.bat

To use the Python interpreter of your virtual environment execute:
python


On Mac and Linux:

Open Terminal, make sure the terminal is set to the folder where your project is, and execute:
python3. -m venv env

That will create a folder named env. To activate the environment execute:
source env/bin/activate

To use the Python interpreter of your virtual environment execute:
python



Output

On Windows:

C:\Users\YourUsername\Documents\my_project>py -3 -m venv env
C:\Users\YourUsername\Documents\my_project>env\Scripts\activate.bat
(env) C:\Users\YourUsername\Documents\my_project>python
Python 3.x.x (tags/v3.x.x:xxxxxx, date xxxxxx) [MSC v.xxxx 64 bit (AMD64)] on win32
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>>

On Mac and Linux:

$ cd /path/to/your/project
$ python3 -m venv env
$ source env/bin/activate
(env) $ python
Python 3.x.x (default, date xxxx) [GCC x.x.x] on linux
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>>


Explanation
The above code uses the Python venv standard library. In the above example, venv will create an env folder in the current working directory of the terminal/cmd. The  env folder contains a new Python installation/interpreter. That interpreter can be invoked by using the python command after having activated the virtual environment.



Related HowTos
Use the polars library
Use Selenium to browse a page
Load JSON data
Build a GUI with FreeSimpleGUI
Delete a directory
Delete a file
Create matplotlib graphs
Rename a file
Get today's date and convert to string
Create a text file and write text on it
Read a text file with Python
Scrape a Wikipedia page
Install dependencies
Flush the output of the print function
Prettyprint a JSON file
Create a dictionary with list comprehension
Select multiple columns in a Pandas dataframe
Profile a script
Reverse a string
Convert two lists into a dictionary
Convert an integer into a string
Generate random strings with upper case letters and digits
Extract extension from filename
Print to stderr in Python
Generate random integers between 0 and 9
Use a pythonic way to create a long multi-line string
Measure elapsed time in Python
Install specific package versions with pip
Read from stdin (standard input)
Get the class name of an instance
Check if a string is empty
Pad zeroes to a string
Delete an element from a dictionary
Check if a string is a float
Count the occurrences of an item in a list
Remove an element from a list by index
Use static methods
Remove a trailing newline
Print literal curly-brace characters in a string and also use .format on it
Exit/deactivate a virtualenv
Determine the type of an object
Limit floats to two decimal points
Know if an object has an attribute
Select an item from a list randomly
Read a file line-by-line into a list
Call a function of a module by using its name
Get the number of elements in a list
Print without a newline or space
Sort a list of dictionaries by a value of the dictionary
Remove a key from dictionary
Rename column names with Pandas
Lowercase a string
Upgrade all Python packages with pip
Get a substring of a string
Get the last element of a list
Parse a string to a float or integer
Convert a string into datetime format
Access environment variable values
Print coloured text on the terminal
Find current directory of a file
Change the size of figures drawn with Matplotlib
Manually raise an exception
Delete a file or folder
Split a list into evenly sized parts
Select rows from a DataFrame based on column values with Pandas
Install pip on Windows
Check if a given key already exists in a dictionary
Iterate over rows in a DataFrame for Pandas
Make function decorators and chain them together
Pass a variable by reference
Make a time delay
Convert bytes to a string
Copy a file
Concatenate two lists
Add new keys to a dictionary
Catch multiple exceptions in a single 'except' block
Check if a list is empty
Get the current time
Sort a dictionary by value
Use global variables in a function
List all files of a directory
Iterate over dictionaries using for loops
Check if a string contains a substring
Find the index of an item in a list
Understand how slice notation works
Make a flat list out of a list of lists
Accesses the index in for loops
Safely create a nested directory
Merge two dictionaries in a single expression
Check whether a file exists without exceptions
Convert a dictionary into a list
Convert a list into a dictionary
Duplicate a file
Append text in a text file
Use for loops
Deploy a web app to Heroku
Schedule a Python script for execution at a specific time every day
Store Python passwords securely on Windows, Mac, and Linux
Do dictionary comprehension
Do list comprehension
Create a new file
Merge two lists
Extract items from two different lists into one list
Check if a text file is empty
Randomly select an item from a list
Generate a random integer
Break a while loop
Create a pandas DataFrame from a dictionary
Create a pandas DataFrame from a list
Get the last item of a list
Delete a column from a pandas dataframe
Access a column of a pandas dataframe
Create a class
Make a webpage request
Get the first two characters of a string
Loop through two lists at the same time
Recommended Course

Python Mega Course: Learn Python in 60 Days, Build 20 Apps
Learn Python on Udemy completely in 60 days or less by building 20 real-world applications from web development to data science.