How to rename a virtualenv in Python?
PythonDirectoryVirtualenvPython Problem Overview
I misspelled the name of the virtualenv
while initializing it using:
$ virtualenv vnev
I actually intended to create the environment with the name venv
.
Having tried to rename the vnev
folder to venv
, I find that this doesn't provide much help. The name of the activate environment still renames the old vnev
.
$ mv vnev venv
$ . venv/bin/activate
(vnev) $ deactivate
I would like to know how to go about renaming the environment?
Python Solutions
Solution 1 - Python
By default virtualenv does not support the renaming of environments. It is safer to just delete the virtualenv directory and create a new one with the correct name. You can do this by:
- Activate your virtualenv:
source vnev/bin/activate
- Create a requirements.txt of currently installed packages:
pip freeze > requirements.txt
- Delete the misspelled virtualenv:
rm -r vnev/
- Create a new virtualenv with correct name:
virtualenv venv
- Activate new virtualenv:
source venv/bin/activate
- Install packages from requirements.txt:
pip install -r requirements.txt
If recreating is not an option there are 3rd party tools like virtualenv-mv that might be helpful.
Alternatively you can use virtualenvwrapper which provides the cpvirtualenv
command to copy or rename virtualenvs.
Solution 2 - Python
If you use virtualenvwrapper this can be done by:
$ cpvirtualenv <wrong_name> <correct_name>
$ rmvirtualenv <wrong_name>
Also, FYI, to rename a conda virtualenvironment, check out this question.
Solution 3 - Python
The steps I use to rename a virtual environment:
- Copy the entire virtual environment folder to the new virtual environment.
cp -a old_venv new_venv
- Use
sed
within thenew_venv/bin
folder to directly change references toold_v.env
cd new_venv/bin
sed -i 's/old_venv/new_venv/g' *
- Remove the old virtual environment
rm -rf old_env
Re-installing the ipykernel for jupyter may be required, but otherwise everything seems to work fine
Solution 4 - Python
In windows
I was able to easily rename my virtual environment by editing activate.bat
inside scripts\
:
-
Backup the original
activate.bat
(I copy&pasted then renamed mineBACKUP_activate.bat
). -
Right-click and edit
activate.bat
. -
Change
VIRTUAL_ENV
variable from:set VIRTUAL_ENV=C:\some_dir\old_venv_name
into
set VIRTUAL_ENV=C:\some_dir\new_venv_name
-
Change
PROMPT
variable from:set PROMPT=(old_venv_name) %PROMPT%
into
set PROMPT=(new_venv_name) %PROMPT%
-
Save the edited batch file
NOTE: My solution should work and save windows users
setting up new virtual environments, I have no knowledge scripting or whatsoever in linux or other operating systems
Solution 5 - Python
cpvirtualenv
from virtualenv-wrapper errored out for me trying to run virtualenv-clone
, but running that directly worked fine:
virtualenv-clone ~/.virtualenvs/oldname ~/.virtualenvs/newname
workon newname
rmvirtualenv oldname
No need to reinstall anything.
Solution 6 - Python
My answer is similar to creating a new virtual environment with the dependencies of the old one, but this one is succinct.
-
Clone the old environment (say venv_1) to a new environment (say venv_2) using conda.
conda create -n venv_2 --clone venv_1
This creates a new environment venv_2 cloning the venv_1. Hence no separate task of getting the packages/ dependencies. Single step suffices.
-
Delete the old virtual environment. [This step is optional if you still want to keep the old environment]
rm -rf "fully qualified path of the old virtual environment"
So in 1/2 steps the task can be achieved.