Test if notebook is running on Google Colab

Question

How can I test if my notebook is running on Google Colab?

I need this test as obtaining / unzipping my training data is different if running on my laptop or on Colab

Answer 1

you can check environment variable like this:

import os
if 'COLAB_GPU' in os.environ:
   print("I'm running on Colab")

actually you can print out os.environ to check what's associated with colab and then check the key

Answer 2

There is also the possibility to check the ipython interpreter used. I think it is a little bit more clear and you don't have to import any module.

if 'google.colab' in str(get_ipython()):
  print('Running on CoLab')
else:
  print('Not running on CoLab')

If you need to do it multiple times you might want to assign a variable so you don't have to repeat the str(get_ipython()).

RunningInCOLAB = 'google.colab' in str(get_ipython())

RunningInCOLAB is True if run in a Google Colab notebook.

Answer 3

Try importing google.colab

try:
  import google.colab
  IN_COLAB = True
except:
  IN_COLAB = False

Or just check if it's in sys.modules

import sys
IN_COLAB = 'google.colab' in sys.modules

Answer 4

In a %%bash cell, use:

%%bash
[[ ! -e /colabtools ]] && exit  # Continue only if running on Google Colab

# Do Colab-only stuff here

Or in Python equivalence

import os
if os.path.exists('/colabtools'):
  # do stuff