How to leave/exit/deactivate a Python virtualenv

To leave a Python virtual environment, you can use the deactivate command. This will return you to the system's default Python environment.

For example:

$ deactivate

You can also use the exit command to leave the virtual environment, but this will terminate the terminal session.

$ exit

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Alternatively, you can simply close the terminal window to leave the virtual environment.

If you want to reactivate the virtual environment at a later time, you can use the activate script that is located in the bin directory of the virtual environment.

$ source bin/activate

This will activate the virtual environment, and you will see the name of the virtual environment in the command prompt. To confirm that you are in a virtual environment, you can check the value of the VIRTUAL_ENV environment variable.

$ echo $VIRTUAL_ENV

If the VIRTUAL_ENV variable is set, then you are in a virtual environment.