Creation of :ref:`virtual environments <venv-def>` is done by executing the
command ``venv``::

    python -m venv /path/to/new/virtual/environment

Running this command creates the target directory (creating any parent
directories that don't exist already) and places a ``pyvenv.cfg`` file in it
with a ``home`` key pointing to the Python installation from which the command
was run (a common name for the target directory is ``.venv``).  It also creates
a ``bin`` (or ``Scripts`` on Windows) subdirectory containing a copy/symlink
of the Python binary/binaries (as appropriate for the platform or arguments
used at environment creation time). It also creates an (initially empty)
``lib/pythonX.Y/site-packages`` subdirectory (on Windows, this is
``Lib\site-packages``). If an existing directory is specified, it will be
re-used.

.. deprecated:: 3.6
   ``pyvenv`` was the recommended tool for creating virtual environments for
   Python 3.3 and 3.4, and is
   :ref:`deprecated in Python 3.6 <whatsnew36-venv>`.

.. versionchanged:: 3.5
   The use of ``venv`` is now recommended for creating virtual environments.

.. highlight:: none

On Windows, invoke the ``venv`` command as follows::

    c:\>Python35\python -m venv c:\path\to\myenv

Alternatively, if you configured the ``PATH`` and ``PATHEXT`` variables for
your :ref:`Python installation <using-on-windows>`::

    c:\>python -m venv c:\path\to\myenv

The command, if run with ``-h``, will show the available options::

   usage: venv [-h] [--system-site-packages] [--symlinks | --copies] [--clear]
               [--upgrade] [--without-pip] [--prompt PROMPT] [--upgrade-deps]
               [--without-scm-ignore-file]
               ENV_DIR [ENV_DIR ...]

   Creates virtual Python environments in one or more target directories.

   positional arguments:
   ENV_DIR               A directory to create the environment in.

   options:
   -h, --help            show this help message and exit
   --system-site-packages
                           Give the virtual environment access to the system
                           site-packages dir.
   --symlinks            Try to use symlinks rather than copies, when
                           symlinks are not the default for the platform.
   --copies              Try to use copies rather than symlinks, even when
                           symlinks are the default for the platform.
   --clear               Delete the contents of the environment directory if
                           it already exists, before environment creation.
   --upgrade             Upgrade the environment directory to use this
                           version of Python, assuming Python has been upgraded
                           in-place.
   --without-pip         Skips installing or upgrading pip in the virtual
                           environment (pip is bootstrapped by default)
   --prompt PROMPT       Provides an alternative prompt prefix for this
                           environment.
   --upgrade-deps        Upgrade core dependencies (pip) to the latest
                           version in PyPI
   --without-scm-ignore-file
                           Skips adding the default SCM ignore file to the
                           environment directory (the default is a .gitignore
                           file).

   Once an environment has been created, you may wish to activate it, e.g. by
   sourcing an activate script in its bin directory.

.. versionchanged:: 3.13

   ``--without-scm-ignore-file`` was added along with creating an ignore file
   for ``git`` by default.

.. versionchanged:: 3.12

   ``setuptools`` is no longer a core venv dependency.

.. versionchanged:: 3.9
   Add ``--upgrade-deps`` option to upgrade pip + setuptools to the latest on PyPI

.. versionchanged:: 3.4
   Installs pip by default, added the ``--without-pip``  and ``--copies``
   options

.. versionchanged:: 3.4
   In earlier versions, if the target directory already existed, an error was
   raised, unless the ``--clear`` or ``--upgrade`` option was provided.

.. note::
   While symlinks are supported on Windows, they are not recommended. Of
   particular note is that double-clicking ``python.exe`` in File Explorer
   will resolve the symlink eagerly and ignore the virtual environment.

.. note::
   On Microsoft Windows, it may be required to enable the ``Activate.ps1``
   script by setting the execution policy for the user. You can do this by
   issuing the following PowerShell command:

   PS C:\> Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope CurrentUser

   See `About Execution Policies
   <https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=135170>`_
   for more information.

The created ``pyvenv.cfg`` file also includes the
``include-system-site-packages`` key, set to ``true`` if ``venv`` is
run with the ``--system-site-packages`` option, ``false`` otherwise.

Unless the ``--without-pip`` option is given, :mod:`ensurepip` will be
invoked to bootstrap ``pip`` into the virtual environment.

Multiple paths can be given to ``venv``, in which case an identical virtual
environment will be created, according to the given options, at each provided
path.