detect_virtualenv

Switch virtualenvs as easy as changing directories!

detect_virtualenv is a function that will search for virtualenvs in the current directory and its parents. When it finds one, it will activate it; if it doesn't find one, it will deactivate any active virtualenv.

By default, it will only detect a virtualenv called .venv. To instead detect virtualenvs with other names, set the MY_VIRTUALENV_NAMES variable to a colon-separated list of the names you use e.g. export MY_VIRTUALENV_NAMES=cool_virtualev:rad_venv:ve.

Install from GitHub

git clone https://github.com/dgholz/detect_virtualenv.git ~/.vendor/detect_virtualenv
. ~/.vendor/detect_virtualenv/detect_virtualenv # enable just for this sesson
echo . ~/.vendor/detect_virtualenv/detect_virtualenv >> ~/.bashrc # enable for new sessions

Example

export MY_VIRTUALENV_NAMES=cool_virtualev:rad_venv:ve # add this to your ~/.bashrc to set it for all new sessions
pushd a/dir/with/a/virtualenv
detect_virtualenv # finds and activates a virtualenv called virtualenv_run or venv
cd subdir
detect_virtualenv # finds the virtualenv in the parent
popd
detect_virtualenv # deactivates the previously-found virtualenv

Command-line Options

detect_virtualenv accepts some command-line options:

• --off disables detection of virtualenvs when calling detect_virtualenv
• --deactivate same as off and also deactivates the current virtualenv
• --on enables detection of virtualenvs when calling detect_virtualenv (on by default)
• --status prints whether detection of virtualenv is enabled ('on') or disabled ('off')
• --toggle enables detection of virtualenv if currently disabled, and vice versa
• <name>[:<name>] ... a colon-separated list of virtualenvs to detect in place of the current value of $MY_VIRTUALENV_NAMES

Automatically detecting virtualenvs

You can configure your shell to automatically execute detect_virtualenv.

Add to PROMPT_COMMAND, so detect_virtualenv is invoked everytime the prompt is shown

detect_virtualenv provides a helper function, which is automatically run if it is sourced with on_prompt as the first argument:

. path/to/detect_virtualenv on_prompt

It will avoid adding to PROMPT_COMMAND if it is already present.

Override cd, pushd, and popd, so detect_virtualenv is invoked everytime the directory is changed:

Not recommended, as other tools may override cd et al. e.g. rvm. Only use if you are certain no other part of your ~/.bashrc changes these builtins:

. path/to/detect_virtualenv
function cd()    { builtin cd    "$@" && detect_virtualenv }
function pushd() { builtin pushd "$@" && detect_virtualenv }
function popd()  { builtin popd  "$@" && detect_virtualenv }