Per-User Customization — virtualenvwrapper 4.8.4 documentation

# Per-User Customization

The end-user customization scripts are either sourced (allowing them to modify your shell environment) or run as an external program at the appropriate trigger time.

The global scripts applied to all environments should be placed in the directory named by VIRTUALENVWRAPPER_HOOK_DIR, which by default will be equal to WORKON_HOME. The local scripts should be placed in the `bin` directory of the virtualenv.

## Example Usage

As a Django developer, you likely want DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE to be set, and if you work on multiple projects, you want it to be specific to the project you are currently working on. Wouldn’t it be nice if it was set based on the active virtualenv? You can achieve this with Per-User Customization as follows.

If your WORKON_HOME is set to ~/.virtualenvs:

    vim ~/.virtualenvs/premkvirtualenv

Edit the file so it contains the following (for a default Django setup):

    # Automatically set django settings for the virtualenv
    echo "export DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE=$1.settings" >> "$1/bin/activate"

Create a new virtualenv, and you should see DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE in your env!

## get_env_details

> Global/Local: | both
> Argument(s): | env name
> Sourced/Run: | run

`$VIRTUALENVWRAPPER_HOOK_DIR/get_env_details` is run when `workon` is run with no arguments and a list of the virtual environments is printed. The hook is run once for each environment, after the name is printed, and can print additional information about that environment.

## initialize

> Global/Local: | global
> Argument(s): | None
> Sourced/Run: | sourced

`$VIRTUALENVWRAPPER_HOOK_DIR/initialize` is sourced when `virtualenvwrapper.sh` is loaded into your environment. Use it to adjust global settings when virtualenvwrapper is enabled.

## premkvirtualenv

> Global/Local: | global
> Argument(s): | name of new environment
> Sourced/Run: | run

`$VIRTUALENVWRAPPER_HOOK_DIR/premkvirtualenv` is run as an external program after the virtual environment is created but before the current environment is switched to point to the new env. The current working directory for the script is `$WORKON_HOME` and the name of the new environment is passed as an argument to the script.

## postmkvirtualenv

> Global/Local: | global
> Argument(s): | none
> Sourced/Run: | sourced

`$VIRTUALENVWRAPPER_HOOK_DIR/postmkvirtualenv` is sourced after the new environment is created and activated. If the `-a` <project_path> flag was used, the link to the project directory is set up before this script is sourced.

## precpvirtualenv

> Global/Local: | global
> Argument(s): | name of original environment, name of new environment
> Sourced/Run: | run

`$VIRTUALENVWRAPPER_HOOK_DIR/precpvirtualenv` is run as an external program after the source environment is duplicated and made relocatable, but before the `premkvirtualenv` hook is run or the current environment is switched to point to the new env. The current working directory for the script is `$WORKON_HOME` and the names of the source and new environments are passed as arguments to the script.

## postcpvirtualenv

> Global/Local: | global
> Argument(s): | none
> Sourced/Run: | sourced

`$VIRTUALENVWRAPPER_HOOK_DIR/postcpvirtualenv` is sourced after the new environment is created and activated.

## preactivate

> Global/Local: | global, local
> Argument(s): | environment name
> Sourced/Run: | run

The global `$VIRTUALENVWRAPPER_HOOK_DIR/preactivate` script is run before the new environment is enabled. The environment name is passed as the first argument.

The local `$VIRTUAL_ENV/bin/preactivate` hook is run before the new environment is enabled. The environment name is passed as the first argument.

## postactivate

> Global/Local: | global, local
> Argument(s): | none
> Sourced/Run: | sourced

The global `$VIRTUALENVWRAPPER_HOOK_DIR/postactivate` script is sourced after the new environment is enabled. `$VIRTUAL_ENV` refers to the new environment at the time the script runs.

This example script adds a space between the virtual environment name and your old PS1 by making use of `_OLD_VIRTUAL_PS1`.

    PS1="(`basename \"$VIRTUAL_ENV\"`) $_OLD_VIRTUAL_PS1"

The local `$VIRTUAL_ENV/bin/postactivate` script is sourced after the new environment is enabled. `$VIRTUAL_ENV` refers to the new environment at the time the script runs.

This example script for the PyMOTW environment changes the current working directory and the PATH variable to refer to the source tree containing the PyMOTW source.

    pymotw_root=/Users/dhellmann/Documents/PyMOTW
    cd $pymotw_root
    PATH=$pymotw_root/bin:$PATH

## predeactivate

> Global/Local: | local, global
> Argument(s): | none
> Sourced/Run: | sourced

The local `$VIRTUAL_ENV/bin/predeactivate` script is sourced before the current environment is deactivated, and can be used to disable or clear settings in your environment. `$VIRTUAL_ENV` refers to the old environment at the time the script runs.

The global `$VIRTUALENVWRAPPER_HOOK_DIR/predeactivate` script is sourced before the current environment is deactivated. `$VIRTUAL_ENV` refers to the old environment at the time the script runs.

## postdeactivate

> Global/Local: | local, global
> Argument(s): | none
> Sourced/Run: | sourced

The `$VIRTUAL_ENV/bin/postdeactivate` script is sourced after the current environment is deactivated, and can be used to disable or clear settings in your environment. The path to the environment just deactivated is available in `$VIRTUALENVWRAPPER_LAST_VIRTUALENV`.

## prermvirtualenv

> Global/Local: | global
> Argument(s): | environment name
> Sourced/Run: | run

The `$VIRTUALENVWRAPPER_HOOK_DIR/prermvirtualenv` script is run as an external program before the environment is removed. The full path to the environment directory is passed as an argument to the script.

## postrmvirtualenv

> Global/Local: | global
> Argument(s): | environment name
> Sourced/Run: | run

The `$VIRTUALENVWRAPPER_HOOK_DIR/postrmvirtualenv` script is run as an external program after the environment is removed. The full path to the environment directory is passed as an argument to the script.

## premkproject

> Global/Local: | global
> Argument(s): | name of new project
> Sourced/Run: | run

`$WORKON_HOME/premkproject` is run as an external program after the virtual environment is created and after the current environment is switched to point to the new env, but before the new project directory is created. The current working directory for the script is `$PROJECT_HOME` and the name of the new project is passed as an argument to the script.

## postmkproject

> Global/Local: | global
> Argument(s): | none
> Sourced/Run: | sourced

`$WORKON_HOME/postmkproject` is sourced after the new environment and project directories are created and the virtualenv is activated. The current working directory is the project directory.