When I try to activate a virtual environment with venv I get an error

Question

I am following this tutorial on how to set up a virtual environment in Python3.6 using the windows command prompt. I had no problem generating the necessary file by running this:

python3 -m venv venv-test

The tutorial then advises to activate the virtual environment by running this code:

venv-test/Scripts/activate

But when I do this , I get the error...

 File "venv-test/Scripts/activate", line 4
    deactivate () {
              ^ SyntaxError: invalid syntax

I opened the generated 'activate' file and this seems to be the part that's causing the problem but I'm not sure how to correct it.

deactivate () {
# reset old environment variables
if [ -n "${_OLD_VIRTUAL_PATH:-}" ] ; then
    PATH="${_OLD_VIRTUAL_PATH:-}"
    export PATH
    unset _OLD_VIRTUAL_PATH
fi
if [ -n "${_OLD_VIRTUAL_PYTHONHOME:-}" ] ; then
    PYTHONHOME="${_OLD_VIRTUAL_PYTHONHOME:-}"
    export PYTHONHOME
    unset _OLD_VIRTUAL_PYTHONHOME
fi

Thanks in advance!

Buxtehude

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Answer 1

Try this:

source venv-test/bin/activate

It worked here. Make sure you're in the folder that contains your venv, otherwise just mention its full path.

Demented

Answer 2

I haven't got access to a windows machine at the moment but if I remember correctly you need to run activate.bat and I think you need the full path.

So something like:

C://code/project/venv-test/Scripts/activate.bat

Tyche

Answer 3

On Python 3.8 just go to the folder containing the virtual environment and type

source venv-test\scripts\activate

Imray

Answer 4

The same thing happen to me with one environment, and just adding ./ to the begining of the path solved it. So in your case it would be

./venv-test/Scripts/activate

instead of

venv-test/Scripts/activate

Andalusite

This worked for me, I was in the Script folder and "activate" is giving me the OP's error. It's worked with past environments, but not this one. Using ./activate works for some reason, which is a pain, but it'll do for now. – Halsted

Answer 5

not sure the reason why running

venv-test/Scripts/activate

doesn't work but if you go into the directory venv-test/Scripts and THEN type activate it works fine.

Buxtehude

Answer 6

change directory to scripts directory as follows:

cd venv-test/Scripts

and run the activate file by typing

activate 

at the prompt

Bobbibobbie

thank you for sharing your information. it seems you are new. please see this link to see how to write a good answer: stackoverflow.com/help/how-to-answer – Hypabyssal

Answer 7

you have to run source venv-test/bin/activate not venv-test/Scripts/activate

Pierpont

Please explain how your post differs from a copy of the upvoted already existing answer by Luiz Gabriel. I do not see it. – Moose

Answer 8

---

I had the same problem before, try typing :

venv-test/Scripts/activate.bat,

it worked for me

Martino