iterm2 shell prompt now shows "(base)"

Question

I have been using iterm2 for a couple years now and its great. Lately, however, my prompt has changed in an odd way and I can't tell what it is telling me. Originally, my prompt looked like this:

<username>@<hostname>:<current_dir>$

Now, the prompt looks like this:

(base) $<username>@<hostname>:<current_dir>$

I'm running Mojave and checked my .bashrc file – everything looks normal there.

Does anyone have an idea as to what "(base)" is? What is it telling me? And how can I get rid of it?

Answer 1

I did some further analysis of my .bash_profile file and I was able to isolate the (base) to a section that adds the Python Anaconda distribution into my path. After some further Googling, it turns out I had inadvertently created a virtual environment for my Anaconda work. This wasn't necessary, so I removed the environment by typing source deactivate. My terminal session now no longer shows (base).

Thanks to Blockchain Business for the info on how to disable a virtual environment.