[python] adding directory to sys.path /PYTHONPATH

I am trying to import a module from a particular directory.

The problem is that if I use sys.path.append(mod_directory) to append the path and then open the python interpreter, the directory mod_directory gets added to the end of the list sys.path. If I export the PYTHONPATH variable before opening the python interpreter, the directory gets added to the start of the list. In the latter case I can import the module but in the former, I cannot.

Can somebody explain why this is happening and give me a solution to add the mod_directory to the start, inside a python script ?

When running a Python script from Powershell under Windows, this should work:

$pathToSourceRoot = "C:/Users/Steve/YourCode"
$env:PYTHONPATH = "$($pathToSourceRoot);$($pathToSourceRoot)/subdirs_if_required"

# Now run the actual script
python your_script.py

Temporarily changing dirs works well for importing:

cwd = os.getcwd()
os.chdir(<module_path>)
import <module>
os.chdir(cwd)

You could use:

import os
path = 'the path you want'
os.environ['PATH'] += ':'+path

As to me, i need to caffe to my python path. I can add it's path to the file /home/xy/.bashrc by add

export PYTHONPATH=/home/xy/caffe-master/python:$PYTHONPATH.

to my /home/xy/.bashrc file.

But when I use pycharm, the path is still not in.

So I can add path to PYTHONPATH variable, by run -> edit Configuration.