Virtual Environment Has Wrong Python Version

Question

I have to use some old code that depends on Python 2.7 but I use Python 3. To change Python versions, I created a virtual environment (specifying Python to be version 2) but my python version didn't seem to change.

Here's what I tried:

conda create -n python_two_env python=2.7

This created the environment, then I activated it using:

conda activate python_two_env

and checked the python version using:

python --version

I got:

Python 3.10.10

Why is the virtual environment's python version not 2.7?

Answer 1

After some troubleshooting, I found that the issue was in my .bashrc file. Specifically, I had defined the alias python=python3 which was being prioritized over the virtual environment's python version. After commenting out that alias, python --version in the virtual environment returns Python 2.7.18 :: Anaconda, Inc.