When you create and activate a virtual environment in Python using venv or virtualenv, the pip tool installs packages into a directory specific to that virtual environment. The packages are isolated from global Python environment ensuring that dependencies for a specific project do not interfere with other projects.. The directory structure of a virtual environment typically looks like this:
my_project/
├── venv/ # Virtual environment directory
│ ├── bin/ # Contains scripts for activating and deactivating the environment (on Unix-based systems)
│ ├── Include/
│ ├── lib/ # Contains the installed Python packages
│ └── ...
├── my_script.py
└── ...The lib directory within the virtual environment contains the installed packages, and it usually has a subdirectory named site-packages where the installed packages reside. For example:,
my_project/
├── venv/
│ ├── lib/
│ │ ├── pythonX.Y/
│ │ │ ├── site-packages/
│ │ │ │ ├── package1/
│ │ │ │ ├── package2/
│ │ │ │ └── ...
│ │ └── ...
└── ...Here, package1, package2, and so on represent the Python packages installed using pip within the virtual environment. When you run your Python scripts while virtual environment is activated, Python will look for packages in thes isolated environment before checking the global system-wide Python environment. This isolation ensures that your project’s dependencies are separate from other Python projects or system-wide packages, allowing for cleaner and more reliable development.
