How to rename a virtualenv in Python?

Question

I misspelled the name of the virtualenv while initializing it using:

$ virtualenv vnev

I actually intended to create the envir

Answer 1

My answer is similar to creating a new virtual environment with the dependencies of the old one, but this one is succinct.

1. 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.

2. 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.

Answer 2

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.

Answer 3

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:

1. Activate your virtualenv: source vnev/bin/activate
2. Create a requirements.txt of currently installed packages: pip freeze > requirements.txt
3. Delete the misspelled virtualenv: rm -r vnev/
4. Create a new virtualenv with correct name: virtualenv venv
5. Activate new virtualenv: source venv/bin/activate
6. 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.

Answer 4

In windows I was able to easily rename my virtual environment by editing activate.bat inside scripts\:

1. Backup the original activate.bat (I copy&pasted then renamed mine BACKUP_activate.bat).

2. Right-click and edit activate.bat.

3. Change VIRTUAL_ENV variable from:

    set VIRTUAL_ENV=C:\some_dir\old_venv_name
   

   into

    set VIRTUAL_ENV=C:\some_dir\new_venv_name
   

4. Change PROMPT variable from:

    set PROMPT=(old_venv_name) %PROMPT%
   

   into

    set PROMPT=(new_venv_name) %PROMPT%
   

5. 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