A Folder Structure

venv

You don’t need to dig deeply into this folder structure to learn more about what virtual environments are made of. In just a bit, you’ll carefully scrape off the topsoil and investigate the high-level structures that you uncover.

However, if you’ve already got your shovel ready and you’re itching to dig, then open the collapsible section below:

PS> tree venv /F

$  tree venv

$ tree venv

site-packages/
venv\
│
├── Include\
│
├── Lib\
│   │
│   └── site-packages\
│       │
│       ├── _distutils_hack\
│       │
│       ├── pip\
│       │
│       ├── pip-22.0.4.dist-info\
│       │
│       ├── pkg_resources\
│       │
│       ├── setuptools\
│       │
│       ├── setuptools-58.1.0.dist-info\
│       │
│       └── distutils-precedence.pth
│
│
├── Scripts\
│   ├── Activate.ps1
│   ├── activate
│   ├── activate.bat
│   ├── deactivate.bat
│   ├── pip.exe
│   ├── pip3.10.exe
│   ├── pip3.exe
│   ├── python.exe
│   └── pythonw.exe
│
└── pyvenv.cfg

venv/
│
├── bin/
│   ├── Activate.ps1
│   ├── activate
│   ├── activate.csh
│   ├── activate.fish
│   ├── pip
│   ├── pip3
│   ├── pip3.10
│   ├── python
│   ├── python3
│   └── python3.10
│
├── include/
│
├── lib/
│   │
│   └── python3.10/
│       │
│       └── site-packages/
│           │
│           ├── _distutils_hack/
│           │
│           ├── pip/
│           │
│           ├── pip-22.0.4.dist-info/
│           │
│           ├── pkg_resources/
│           │
│           ├── setuptools/
│           │
│           ├── setuptools-58.1.0.dist-info/
│           │
│           └── distutils-precedence.pth
│
├── lib64/
│   │
│   └── python3.10/
│       │
│       └── site-packages/
│           │
│           ├── _distutils_hack/
│           │
│           ├── pip/
│           │
│           ├── pip-22.0.4.dist-info/
│           │
│           ├── pkg_resources/
│           │
│           ├── setuptools/
│           │
│           ├── setuptools-58.1.0.dist-info/
│           │
│           └── distutils-precedence.pth
│
└── pyvenv.cfg

venv/
│
├── bin/
│   ├── Activate.ps1
│   ├── activate
│   ├── activate.csh
│   ├── activate.fish
│   ├── pip
│   ├── pip3
│   ├── pip3.10
│   ├── python
│   ├── python3
│   └── python3.10
│
├── include/
│
├── lib/
│   │
│   └── python3.10/
│       │
│       └── site-packages/
│           │
│           ├── _distutils_hack/
│           │
│           ├── pip/
│           │
│           ├── pip-22.0.4.dist-ino/
│           │
│           ├── pkg_resources/
│           │
│           ├── setuptools/
│           │
│           ├── setuptools-58.1.0.dist-info/
│           │
│           └── distutils-precedence.pth
│
└── pyvenv.cfg

This reduced tree structure gives you a better overview of what’s going on in your virtual environment folder:

Include\Lib\site-packages\pipScripts\python.exepippip.exeactivatepyvenv.cfgsysbin/pythonpippippython3python3.10pip3pip3.10activateinclude/lib/site-packages/python3.10/site-packages/piplib64/lib/lib/lib64/pyvenv.cfgsysbin/pythonpippippython3python3.10pip3pip3.10activateinclude/lib/site-packages/python3.10/site-packages/pippyvenv.cfgsys

From this bird’s-eye view of the contents of your virtual environment folder, you can zoom out even further to discover that there are three essential parts of a Python virtual environment:

pyvenv.cfg
site-packages/
venvpippippippip
pippip list
(venv) PS> python -m pip list
Package    Version
---------- -------
pip        22.0.4
setuptools 58.1.0

(venv) $ python -m pip list
Package    Version
---------- -------
pip        22.0.4
setuptools 58.1.0

Your version numbers may differ, but this output confirms that Python installed both packages when you created the virtual environment with its default settings.

pippip
site-packages/
distutils-precedence.pthdistutils_distutils_hackdistutils
site-packages/
venv

Keep in mind that your virtual environment is just a folder structure, which means that you can delete and re-create it anytime you want to. But why this specific folder structure, and what does it make possible?