Python: Specify Python versions with virtualenvwrapper

adamlombard

Adam Lombard

Posted on December 29, 2019

Python: Specify Python versions with virtualenvwrapper

If you're using virtualenvwrapper to manage your Python environments, it's easy to create environments that use specific versions of Python.

First, download the version of Python you need. On a Mac, the Python installer defaults to installing Python versions in the /usr/local/bin/ directory.

Then, use this command when creating a new environment:

$ mkvirtualenv -p [path/to/python/version] [name-of-environment]
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

The -p flag allows us to specify what version of Python we would like to use. For example, if we want to create an environment called polls-tutorial using Python 3.6.x, we would do so like this:

$ mkvirtualenv -p /usr/local/bin/python3.6 polls-tutorial
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

NOTE: The Python installer does not overwrite major versions — we can have 3.6.x and 3.7.x installed and use them in different environments. However! The installer does overwrite minor versions. So, if we have environments using Python 3.7.4 and then we install 3.7.6, any environments that were using 3.7.4 will now use 3.7.6.

💖 💪 🙅 🚩
adamlombard
Adam Lombard

Posted on December 29, 2019

Join Our Newsletter. No Spam, Only the good stuff.

Sign up to receive the latest update from our blog.

Related