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function check_virtual_env

Maturity: 30

Detects whether the Python interpreter is running inside a virtual environment by checking system attributes.

File:
/tf/active/vicechatdev/email-forwarder/run_service.py
Lines:
13 - 15
Complexity:
simple

Purpose

This function determines if the current Python process is executing within a virtual environment (venv, virtualenv, or similar). It checks for the presence of 'real_prefix' (used by older virtualenv) or compares 'base_prefix' with 'prefix' (used by venv in Python 3.3+). This is useful for scripts that need to verify environment isolation, enforce virtual environment usage, or conditionally execute code based on the environment type.

Source Code

def check_virtual_env():
    """Check if we're running in a virtual environment."""
    return hasattr(sys, 'real_prefix') or (hasattr(sys, 'base_prefix') and sys.base_prefix != sys.prefix)

Return Value

Returns a boolean value: True if the code is running inside a virtual environment, False if running in the system/global Python installation. The check uses two methods: (1) presence of sys.real_prefix attribute (virtualenv), or (2) sys.base_prefix differs from sys.prefix (venv).

Required Imports

import sys

Usage Example

import sys

def check_virtual_env():
    """Check if we're running in a virtual environment."""
    return hasattr(sys, 'real_prefix') or (hasattr(sys, 'base_prefix') and sys.base_prefix != sys.prefix)

# Example usage
if check_virtual_env():
    print("Running in a virtual environment")
else:
    print("Running in system Python")

# Use in a script that requires virtual environment
if not check_virtual_env():
    raise RuntimeError("This script must be run in a virtual environment")

Best Practices

  • This function works with both virtualenv (older, uses real_prefix) and venv (Python 3.3+, uses base_prefix)
  • The function is read-only and has no side effects, making it safe to call multiple times
  • Consider using this check at the start of scripts that require dependency isolation
  • Note that this may not detect all types of Python environment isolation (e.g., conda environments may behave differently)
  • For conda environments, additional checks may be needed (e.g., checking for CONDA_DEFAULT_ENV environment variable)

Tags

virtual-environment environment-detection venv virtualenv system-check validation python-environment isolation

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