Useful Anaconda Commands

Anaconda is a python distribution

Useful commands

Here are several useful commands for conda.

Environments

Environments are python installations that use a specific collection of packages.

conda create --name ENVNAME python=VER.NUMBER

Print all environments

conda env list

Print information of all packages in the active environment

conda list

Save list of packages in active environment

Package Installation

To install a package, use

conda install [-y] PACKAGE_NAME

Package Version:

Name	Operand	Example	Result
Fuzzy	=	numpy=1.1	1.11.0, 1.11.1, 1.11.2, etc
Exact	==	numpy==1.11	1.11.0
Newer than	>=	numpy>=1.11	versions newer than 1.11.0, less than is similar
Or	|	numpy=1.11.1|1.11.3	1.11.1 OR 1.11.3
Range	>=,<	numpy>=1.8,<2	1.8.0,1.8.1,… 1.9.0, 1.9.1,….1.9.999999 NOT 2

Copy Environments

Local Machine Copy:

conda create --name CLONED_ENV_NAME --clone ENV_TO_CLONE

Cross Machine/Operating Systems

On machine with master environment active:

conda env export environment.yml

On slave machine(s):

conda env create -f environment.yml

New enviroments will be named __.yml.

For machines using the same OS, a plain-text file alternative would be: Master machine:

conda list --explicit PACKAGE_LIST.txt

Slave machine(s):

conda create --name NEW_ENV_NAME --file PACKAGE_LIST.txt

Conda-Pack

Rather than constructing environments from a list, an entire repo can be copied. Useful for complex installations.

Install conda-pack

conda install -c conda-forge conda-pack

Master machine:

conda pack -n MY_ENV # Pack environment MY_ENV into MY_ENV.tar.gz

On slave machine(s):

mkdir -p MY_ENV                   # or create manually
tar -xzf MY_ENV.tar.gz -C my_env  # unzip environment

source MY_ENV/bin/activate        # activate the environment

(MY_ENV) $ python                 # Run Python from in the environment


(MY_ENV) $ conda-unpack           # Cleanup prefixes from in the active environment.

Read more here .

Set up Conda to PATH variable (Windows)

For automatons, it is useful to set up Conda to run from the command line

1. Get conda’s path In ‘anaconda prompt’ run

   where conda
   

   Which should return something like:

   C:\\Users\\USERNAME\\PATH_TO\\anaconda3\\Library\\bin\\conda.bat
   C:\\Users\\USERNAME\\PATH_TO\\anaconda3\\Scripts\\conda.exe
   C:\\Users\\USERNAME\\PATH_TO\\anaconda3\\condabin\\conda.bat
   

   Make a note of these paths

2. Open up Environmental Variables Under ‘System Properties -> Advanced -> Environment Variables’

3. Under ‘System Variables’ (Second entry), edit ‘Path’ Add three entries similar to the ones found in step one:

   C:\\Users\\USERNAME\\PATH_TO\\anaconda3
   C:\\Users\\USERNAME\\PATH_TO\\anaconda3\\Scripts
   C:\\Users\\USERNAME\\PATH_TO\\anaconda3\\Library\\bin