split python source code into multiple files

Question

I have a code that I wish to split apart into multiple files  In matlab one can simply call a  m file  and as long as it is not defined as anything in particular it will just run as if it were part of the called code  Example  edited   test m  matlab   function      test           some code using variables         test2   test2 m  matlab       some more code using same variables       Calling test runs the code in test as well as the code in test2   Is there a similar way for python  to put     some more code      into an external file  that will simply be read as if it is in the file that it is called from

User · Answer

Python has importing and namespacing  which are good  In Python you can import into the current namespace  like    gt  gt  gt  from test import disp  gt  gt  gt  disp  World      Or with a namespace    gt  gt  gt  import test  gt  gt  gt  test disp  World

User · Answer

You can do the same in python by simply importing the second file  code at the top level will run when imported  I d suggest this is messy at best  and not a good programming practice  You would be better off organizing your code into modules   Example   F1 py   print  Hello    import f2   F2 py   print  World     When run    python   f1 py Hello   World    Edit to clarify  The part I was suggesting was  messy  is using the import statement only for the side effect of generating output  not the creation of separate source files

User · Answer

I am researching module usage in python just now and thought I would answer the question Markus asks in the comments above   How to import variables when they are embedded in modules    from two perspectives    variable function  and class property method    Here is how I would rewrite the main program f1 py to demonstrate variable reuse for Markus   import f2 myStorage   f2 useMyVars 0    initialze class and properties for i in range 0 10       print  Hello        f2 print world       myStorage setMyVar i      f2 inc gMyVar   print  Display class property myVar    myStorage getMyVar   print  Display global variable gMyVar    f2 get gMyVar     Here is how I would rewrite the reusable module f2 py     Module  f2 py   Example 1  functions to store and retrieve global variables gMyVar   0 def print world        print  World   def get gMyVar        return gMyVar   no need for global statement  def inc gMyVar        global gMyVar     gMyVar    1      Example 2  class methods to store and retrieve properties class useMyVars object       def   init   self  myVar           self myVar   myVar     def getMyVar self           return self myVar     def setMyVar self  myVar           self myVar   myVar     def print helloWorld self           print  Hello  World     When f1 py is executed here is what the output would look like    run  f1 py  Hello   World  Hello   World  Hello   World  Hello   World  Hello   World  Hello   World  Hello   World  Hello   World  Hello   World  Hello   World  Display class property myVar  9 Display global variable gMyVar  10   I think the point to Markus would be     To reuse a module s code more than once  put your module s code into functions or classes  To reuse variables stored as properties in modules  initialize properties within a class and add  getter  and  setter  methods so variables do not have to be copied into the main program  To reuse variables stored in modules  initialize the variables and use getter and setter functions  The setter functions would declare the variables as global

User · Answer

Sure    file  -- test py -- myvar   42 def test func        print  Hello      Now  this file   test py   is in python terminology a  module    We can import it  as long as it can be found in our PYTHONPATH  Note that the current directory is always in PYTHONPATH  so if use test is being run from the same directory where test py lives  you re all set    file -- use test py -- import test test test func     prints  Hello   print  test myvar    prints 42  from test import test func  Only import the function directly into current namespace test func    prints  Hello  print  myvar       Exception  NameError   from test import   test func    prints  Hello  print myvar        prints 42   There s a lot more you can do than just that through the use of special   init   py files which allow you to treat multiple files as a single module   but this answers your question and I suppose we ll leave the rest for another time

[python] split python source code into multiple files?

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