Set up a Python environment
Great Expectations (GX) is a library for Python versions 3.8 to 3.11. To utilize GX 1.0, you will first need to install Python. It is also advised that you set up a virtual environment for your GX Python projects.
Prerequisites
- Internet access
- Permissions to download and install packages in your environment
Install Python
- Reference the official Python documentation to install an appropriate version of Python.
GX Requires Python, version 3.8 to 3.11, which can be found on the official Python downloads page.
- Verify your Python installation.
Run the following command to display your Python version:
python --version
You should receive a response similar to:
Python 3.8.6
(Optional) Create a virtual environment
Although it is an optional step the best practice when working with a Python project is to do so in a virtual environment. A virtual environment ensures that any libraries and dependencies that you install as part of your project do not encounter or cause conflicts with libraries and dependencies installed for other Python projects.
There are various tools such as virtualenv and pyenv which can be used to create a virtual environment. This example uses venv
because it is included with Python 3.
- Create the virtual environment with
venv
.
To create your virtual environment, run the following code from the folder the environment should reside in:
python -m venv my_venv
This command creates a new directory named my_venv
which will contain your virtual environment.
If you wish to use a different name for your virtual environment, replace my_venv
in the example with the name you would prefer. You will also have to replace my_venv
with your virtual environment's actual name in any other example code that includes my_venv
.
- (Optional) Test your virtual environment by activating it.
Activate your virtual environment by running the following command from the folder it was installed in:
source my_venv/bin/activate