PATH issue with pytest ImportError No module named YadaYadaYada

Question

I used easy install to install pytest on a mac and started writing tests for a project with a file structure likes so   repo  repo app py repo settings py repo models py repo tests  repo tests test app py   run py test while in the repo directory  everything behaves as you would expect  but when I try that same thing on either linux or windows  both have pytest 2 2 3 on them  it barks whenever it hits its first import of something from my application path  Say for instance from app import some def in app  Do I need to be editing my PATH to run py test on these systems  Has Anyone experienced this

User · Answer

According to a post on Medium by Dirk Avery (and supported by my personal experience) if you're using a virtual environment for your project then you can't use a system-wide install of pytest; you have to install it in the virtual environment and use that install.

In particular, if you have it installed in both places then simply running the pytest command won't work because it will be using the system install. As the other answers have described, one simple solution is to run python -m pytest instead of pytest; this works because it uses the environment's version of pytest. Alternatively, you can just uninstall the system's version of pytest; after reactivating the virtual environment the pytest command should work.

User · Answer

I had the same problem  I fixed it by adding an empty   init   py file to my tests directory

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I m not sure why py test does not add the current directory in the PYTHONPATH itself  but here s a workaround  to be executed from the root of your repository    python -m pytest tests    It works because Python adds the current directory in the PYTHONPATH for you

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Very often the tests were interrupted due to module being unable to be imported After research  I found out that the system is looking at the file in the wrong place and we can easily overcome the problem by copying the file  containing the module  in the same folder as stated  in order to be properly imported  Another solution proposal would be to change the declaration for the import and show MutPy the correct path of the unit  However  due to the fact that multiple units can have this dependency  meaning we need to commit changes also in their declarations  we prefer to simply move the unit to the folder

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Yes  the source folder is not in Python s path if you cd to the tests directory    You have 2 choices    Add the path manually to the test files  something like this   import sys  os myPath   os path dirname os path abspath   file     sys path insert 0  myPath            Run the tests with the env var PYTHONPATH

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I created this as an answer to your question and my own confusion  I hope it helps  Pay attention to PYTHONPATH in both the py test command line and in the tox ini   https   github com jeffmacdonald pytest test  Specifically  You have to tell py test and tox where to find the modules you are including    With py test you can do this   PYTHONPATH   py test   And with tox  add this to your tox ini    testenv  deps  -r toxinidir  requirements txt commands py test setenv       PYTHONPATH    toxinidir

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I started getting weird ConftestImportFailure  ImportError  No module named     errors when I had accidentally added   init   py file to my src directory  which was not supposed to be a Python package  just a container of all source

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For me the problem was tests py generated by Django along with tests directory  Removing tests py solved the problem

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As pointed out by Luiz Lezcano Arialdi  the correct solution is to install your package as an editable package  Since I am using pipenv  I thought about adding to his answer a step-by-step how to install the current path as an edible with pipenv  allowing to run pytest without the need of any mangling code or loose files  You will need to have the following minimal folder structure  documentation   package      package            init   py         module py     tests          module test py     setup py  setup py most have the following minium code  documentation   import setuptools   setuptools setup name  package     Change to your package name                  packages setuptools find packages     Then you just need to run pipenv install --dev -e   and pipenv will install the current path as an editable package  the --dev flag is optional   documentation   Now you shoul be able to run pytest without problems

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We have fixed the issue by adding the following environment variable  PYTHONPATH   PYTHONPATH    PWD  src   PWD  test

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I had a similar issue  pytest did not recognize a module installed in the environment I was working in   I resolved it by also installing pytest into the same environment

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I got this error as I used relative imports incorrectly  In the OP example  test app py should import functions using e g   from repo app import     However liberally   init   py files are scattered around the file structure  this does not work and creates the kind of ImportError seen unless the files and test files are in the same directory    from app import     Here s an example of what I had to do with one of my projects   Here   s my project structure   microbit  microbit activity indicator activity indicator py microbit tests test activity indicator py   To be able to access activity indicator py from test activity indicator py I needed to    start test activity indicatory py with the correct relative import        from microbit activity indicator activity indicator import      put   init   py files throughout the project structure        microbit      microbit   init   py     microbit activity indicator   init   py     microbit activity indicator activity indicator py     microbit tests   init   py     microbit tests test activity indicator py

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I was having the same problem when following the Flask tutorial and I found the answer on the official Pytest docs It s a little shift from the way I  and I think many others  are used to do things   You have to create a setup py file in your project s root directory with at least the following two lines   from setuptools import setup  find packages setup name  PACKAGENAME   packages find packages      where PACKAGENAME is your app s name  Then you have to install it with pip   pip install -e     The -e flag tells pip to intall the package in editable or  develop  mode  So the next time you run pytest it should find your app in the standard PYTHONPATH

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Run pytest itself as a module with  python -m pytest tests

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I was getting this error due to something even simpler  you could even say trivial   I hadn t installed the pytest module  So a simple apt install python-pytest fixed it for me    pytest  would have been listed in setup py as a test dependency  Make sure you install the test requirements as well

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My solution    create the conftest py file in the test directory containing   import os import sys sys path insert 0 os path dirname os path realpath   file         relative path to code      This will add the folder of interest to the python path without modifying every test file  setting env variable or messing with absolute relative paths

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conftest solution The least invasive solution is adding an empty file named conftest py in the repo  directory    touch repo conftest py  That s it  No need to write custom code for mangling the sys path or remember to drag PYTHONPATH along  or placing   init   py into dirs where it doesn t belong  using python -m pytest as suggested in Apteryx s answer is a good solution though    The project directory afterwards  repo  -- conftest py  -- app py  -- settings py  -- models py  -- tests       -- test app py  Explanation pytest looks for the conftest modules on test collection to gather custom hooks and fixtures  and in order to import the custom objects from them  pytest adds the parent directory of the conftest py to the sys path  in this case the repo directory   Other project structures If you have other project structure  place the conftest py in the package root dir  the one that contains packages but is not a package itself  so does not contain an   init   py   for example  repo  -- conftest py  -- spam       --   init   py       -- bacon py       -- egg py  -- eggs       --   init   py       -- sausage py  -- tests       -- test bacon py       -- test egg py  src layout Although this approach can be used with the src layout  place conftest py in the src dir   repo  -- src       -- conftest py       -- spam            --   init   py            -- bacon py            -- egg py       -- eggs            --   init   py           -- sausage py  -- tests       -- test bacon py       -- test egg py  beware that adding src to PYTHONPATH mitigates the meaning and benefits of the src layout  You will end up with testing the code from repository and not the installed package  If you need to do it  maybe you don t need the src dir at all  Where to go from here Of course  conftest modules are not just some files to help the source code discovery  it s where all the project-specific enhancements of the pytest framework and the customization of your test suite happen  pytest has a lot of information on conftest modules scattered throughout their docs  start with conftest py  local per-directory plugins Also  SO has an excellent question on conftest modules  In py test  what is the use of conftest py files

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I had the same problem in Flask   When I added     init   py   to tests folder  problem disappeared     Probably application couldn t recognize folder tests as module

User · Answer

You can run with PYTHONPATH in project root  PYTHONPATH   py test   Or use pip install as editable import  pip install -e       install package using setup py in editable mode

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Also if you run pytest within your virtual environment make sure pytest module is installed within your virtual environment  Activate your virtual env and run pip install pytest

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I fixed it by removing the top-level   init   py in the parent folder of my sources

[python] PATH issue with pytest 'ImportError: No module named YadaYadaYada'

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