CondaValueError: The target prefix is the base prefix. Aborting

Question

I have the following conda environment file environment.yml:

name: testproject
channels:
- defaults
dependencies:
- python=3.7
prefix: /opt/projects/testproject

Before creating the environment, only the base environment exists:

(base) me@mymachine:/opt/projects/testproject$ conda env list
# conda environments:
#
base                  *  /opt/anaconda/anaconda3

When trying to create the environment, I get the following error:

(base) me@mymachine:/opt/projects/testproject$ conda create -f environment.yml

CondaValueError: The target prefix is the base prefix. Aborting.

What does this error mean?

score 211 · Accepted Answer · edited Aug 21 '19 at 05:29

211

You need to use

conda env create -f environment.yml

Notice the extra env after conda and before create.

For more information check the documentation.

edited Aug 21 '19 at 05:29

gmagno

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answered Jul 04 '19 at 15:13

darthbith

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You can also get this error if you accidentally *reverse* the arguments: `conda create env -f environment.yml`. The correction remains the same. – jpmc26 Nov 01 '19 at 18:10
35

Is it only me or syntax of conda is often confusing. – Mar 17 '20 at 18:06
1

There are definitely a few commands that are quite confusing, especially around environment creation :-) – darthbith Mar 18 '20 at 00:16
1

For me, the error was not using `-n` flag with the `conda create myenv` – botdotcom Apr 23 '20 at 00:16
Definitely confusing: https://github.com/conda/conda/issues/5253 – intotecho Feb 16 '23 at 06:00

score 48 · Answer 2 · edited Nov 24 '20 at 06:05

48

Very tricky, see the difference between the two:

conda create –-name my_env

and

conda create --name my_env

The first dash before name is slightly different (– instead of -). It takes me 15 mins to notice.

edited Nov 24 '20 at 06:05

MattSidor

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answered Mar 25 '20 at 11:43

jack

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@jack would be more useful if you added the difference. – suvy May 25 '20 at 23:12
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@suvy The first dash "–" is wrong, should be "-". I had this error because i copied from my notebook which has the auto format function and the dash was somehow converted there. – jack May 28 '20 at 20:38
This could be an issue with env creation, but does not seem to relate to the question posted. – Harry Salmon May 12 '22 at 16:10
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@HarrySalmon: I confirm this can be an issue with env creation (by copy-pasting the command from a blog or jupyter output, with the wrong dashes) that is one way to tickle the given CondaValueError in the title. That's in fact what led me to this question. So this answer does have value. – smci Sep 07 '22 at 13:38

score 13 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 13 '19 at 16:08

13

You can use:

conda create --name nameOfEnv

answered Dec 13 '19 at 16:08

Yjmhe

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This does not help as the OP asks for env create using an environment.yml – phi Oct 01 '20 at 12:04

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Mar 26 '20 at 08:46

I have had the same issue even with correct command syntax, right after the anaconda installation. The solution was to make the base environment not be activated on startup:

conda config --set auto_activate_base false

Then restart you terminal. After that I've bean able to create my first conda environment.

CondaValueError: The target prefix is the base prefix. Aborting

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