Importing from a relative path in Python

Question

I have a folder for my client code  a folder for my server code  and a folder for code that is shared between them  Proj      Client          Client py     Server          Server py     Common            init   py         Common py   How do I import Common py from Server py and Client py

User · Accepted Answer

EDIT Nov 2014  3 years later    Python 2 6 and 3 x supports proper relative imports  where you can avoid doing anything hacky   With this method  you know you are getting a relative import rather than an absolute import   The      means  go to the directory above me   from   Common import Common   As a caveat  this will only work if you run your python as a module  from outside of the package   For example   python -m Proj   Original hacky way     This method is still commonly used in some situations  where you aren t actually ever  installing  your package   For example  it s popular with Django users    You can add Common  to your sys path  the list of paths python looks at to import things    import sys  os sys path append os path join os path dirname   file            Common    import Common   os path dirname   file    just gives you the directory that your current python file is in  and then we navigate to  Common   the directory and import  Common  the module

User · Answer

The default import method is already  relative   from the PYTHONPATH  The PYTHONPATH is by default  to some system libraries along with the folder of the original source file  If you run with -m to run a module  the current directory gets added to the PYTHONPATH  So if the entry point of your program is inside of Proj  then using import Common Common should work inside both Server py and Client py   Don t do a relative import  It won t work how you want it to

User · Answer

Doing a relative import is absolulutely OK  Here s what little  ol me does    first change the cwd to the script path scriptPath   os path realpath os path dirname sys argv 0    os chdir scriptPath    append the relative location you want to import from sys path append     common     import your module stored in     common  import common py

User · Answer

Approch used by me is similar to Gary Beardsley mentioned above with small change  Filename  Server py import os  sys script path   os path realpath os path dirname   name     os chdir script path  sys path append  quot    quot     above mentioned steps will make 1 level up module available for import   here Client  Server and Common all 3 can be imported     below mentioned import will be relative to root project from Common import Common from Client import Client

User · Answer

Funny enough  a same problem I just met  and I get this work in following way    combining with linux command ln   we can make thing a lot simper   1  cd Proj Client 2  ln -s    Common     3  cd Proj Server 4  ln -s    Common      And  now if you want to import some stuff from file  Proj Common Common py into your file  Proj Client Client py  just like this     in Proj Client Client py from Common Common import some stuff   And  the same applies to Proj Server  Also works for setup py process  a same question discussed here  hope it helps

User · Answer

Don t do relative import   From PEP8      Relative imports for intra-package imports are highly discouraged    Put all your code into one super package  i e   myapp   and use subpackages for client  server and common code   Update   Python 2 6 and 3 x supports proper relative imports         See Dave s answers for more details

[python] Importing from a relative path in Python

EDIT Nov 2014 (3 years later):

Original hacky way

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