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# Activating a Python virtual environment from a script file
> Activate a Python virtual environment from a script with this guide, featuring detailed code snippets and pip commands.
This article describes how to activate a Python virtual environment from a script file.
**Important**
The method described below assumes that you have already created a Python virtual environment and installed the module (or modules) you want to use. For information about how to do this, please see [this article](/docs/using-the-python-selector) and [this article](/docs/using-virtualenv-and-pip).
📘 Note
Applications that require Python 3 should use the [Python Selector](/docs/using-the-python-selector). Please open a support ticket at [https://my.hosting.com](https://my.hosting.com) if the Python Selector is not available on your server.
## Activating a Python virtual environment from a script file
There are numerous modules available to extend Python functionality. To install these modules, you create a virtual environment and use the *pip* command (or the cPanel Python Selector application).
To actually use these modules in a script or program, you must activate the Python virtual environment that contains them. Depending on your configuration and requirements, you may be able to simply use the virtual environment's *bin/activate* program for activation, and then run commands from the shell.
In other scenarios, however, you may need to dynamically activate the virtual environment directly from a script or program. One example of such a scenario is a Python CGI script file, which is called directly by the web server. To use a virtual environment's module in such a scenario, use the *activate\_this.py* script to activate the virtual environment directly.
The following sample Python CGI script file demonstrates how to do this. To run this code on your own account, do the following:
* Replace ***username*** with your hosting.com account username.
* Replace ***application*** with the name of your Python application.
* Replace ***x.y*** with the Python version of the virtual environment (for example, *2.7* or *3.8* ).
* Replace ***module*** with the name of a module you have installed in the virtual environment.
* Replace ***variable*** with the name of a variable from the module installed in the virtual environment.
```python theme={null}
#!/home/username/virtualenv/application/x.y/bin/python
import os
import sys
import pkg_resources
activate_this = str(os.path.dirname(sys.executable)) + '/activate_this.py'
with open(activate_this) as f:
code = compile(f.read(), activate_this, 'exec')
exec(code, dict(__file__=activate_this))
from module import variable
print ("Content-type:text/html\r\n\r\n")
print ('')
print ('')
print ('Virtualenv test')
print ('')
print ('')
print ('If you see this, the module import was successful
')
print ('Python version: ' + sys.version)
print ('
')
print ('Python executable: ' + str(sys.executable))
print ('
')
print ('Installed modules: ')
print ([p.project_name for p in pkg_resources.working_set])
print ('
')
print ('')
print ('')
```
When you run this script from the command line or load it in your web browser, you should receive the following message:
```
If you see this, the module import was successful
```
This indicates that the **from module import variable** statement succeeded, and the virtual environment's ***variable*** is now available for you to use in the script. Additionally, the script prints information about the Python environment.
If you do not receive the "successful" message in your browser, try running the script file manually from the command line. For example, if the script file is named *script.cgi*, type the following command from within the virtual environment:
`python ~/public_html/script.cgi`
Examine the output and look for any error messages
## Related articles
* [Using virtualenv and pip](/docs/using-virtualenv-and-pip)
* [Python script basics](/docs/python-script-basics)