How to import other Python files

Question

How do I import other files in Python    How exactly can I import a specific python file like import file py  How can I import a folder instead of a specific file  I want to load a Python file dynamically at runtime  based on user input  I want to know how to load just one specific part from the file    For example  in main py I have   from extra import      Although this gives me all the definitions in extra py  when maybe all I want is a single definition   def gap        print     print   What do I add to the import statement to just get gap from extra py

User · Answer

You do not have many complex methods to import a python file from one folder to another. Just create a __init__.py file to declare this folder is a python package and then go to your host file where you want to import just type

from root.parent.folder.file import variable, class, whatever

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the best way to import  py files is by way of   init   py  the simplest thing to do  is to create an empty file named   init   py in the same directory that your py file is located   this post by Mike Grouchy is a great explanation of   init   py and its use for making  importing  and setting up python packages

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Just to import python file in another python file  lets say I have helper py python file which has a display function like   def display        print  I m working sundar gsv     Now in app py  you can use the display function   import helper helper display     The output   I m working sundar gsv  NOTE  No need to specify the  py extension

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Import doc    -- Link for reference   The   init   py files are required to make Python treat the directories as containing packages  this is done to prevent directories with a common name  such as string  from unintentionally hiding valid modules that occur later on the module search path     init   py can just be an empty file  but it can also execute initialization code for the package or set the   all   variable   mydir spam   init   py mydir spam module py import spam module or from spam import module

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I d like to add this note I don t very clearly elsewhere  inside a module package  when loading from files  the module package name must be prefixed with the mymodule  Imagine mymodule being layout like this    main py  mymodule        init   py      somefile py      otherstuff py   When loading somefile py otherstuff py from   init   py the contents should look like   from mymodule somefile import somefunc from mymodule otherstuff import otherfunc

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There are couple of ways of including your python script with name abc py   e g  if your file is called abc py  import abc  Limitation is that your file should be present in the same location where your calling python script is       import abc    e g  if your python file is inside the Windows folder  Windows folder is present at the same location where your calling python script is       from folder import abc    Incase abc py script is available insider internal folder which is present inside folder      from folder internal folder import abc    As answered by James above  in case your file is at some fixed location      import os   import sys   scriptpath       Test MyModule py    sys path append os path abspath scriptpath     import MyModule   In case your python script gets updated and you don t want to upload - use these statements for auto refresh  Bonus      load ext autoreload   autoreload 2

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importlib was added to Python 3 to programmatically import a module  import importlib  moduleName   input  Enter module name    importlib import module moduleName   The  py extension should be removed from moduleName  The function also defines a package argument for relative imports  In python 2 x   Just import file without the  py extension A folder can be marked as a package  by adding an empty   init   py file You can use the   import   function  which takes the module name  without extension  as a string extension  pmName   input  Enter module name    pm     import   pmName  print dir pm    Type help   import    for more details

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There are many ways to import a python file  all with their pros and cons   Don t just hastily pick the first import strategy that works for you or else you ll have to rewrite the codebase later on when you find it doesn t meet your needs     I ll start out explaining the easiest example  1  then I ll move toward the most professional and robust example  7  Example 1  Import a python module with python interpreter    Put this in  home el foo fox py   def what does the fox say      print  vixens cry    Get into the python interpreter    el apollo  home el foo  python Python 2 7 3  default  Sep 26 2013  20 03 06    gt  gt  gt  import fox  gt  gt  gt  fox what does the fox say   vixens cry  gt  gt  gt     You imported fox through the python interpreter  invoked the python function what does the fox say   from within fox py      Example 2  Use execfile or  exec in Python 3  in a script to execute the other python file in place    Put this in  home el foo2 mylib py   def moobar      print  hi    Put this in  home el foo2 main py   execfile   home el foo2 mylib py   moobar    run the file   el apollo  home el foo  python main py hi   The function moobar was imported from mylib py and made available in main py   Example 3  Use from     import     functionality    Put this in  home el foo3 chekov py   def question      print  where are the nuclear wessels    Put this in  home el foo3 main py   from chekov import question question    Run it like this   el apollo  home el foo3  python main py  where are the nuclear wessels    If you defined other functions in chekov py  they would not be available unless you import     Example 4  Import riaa py if it s in a different file location from where it is imported   Put this in  home el foo4 stuff riaa py   def watchout      print  computers are transforming into a noose and a yoke for humans   Put this in  home el foo4 main py   import sys  import os sys path append os path abspath   home el foo4 stuff    from riaa import   watchout    Run it   el apollo  home el foo4  python main py  computers are transforming into a noose and a yoke for humans   That imports everything in the foreign file from a different directory    Example 5  use os system  python yourfile py    import os os system  python yourfile py     Example 6  import your file via piggybacking the python startuphook   Update  This example used to work for both python2 and 3  but now only works for python2   python3 got rid of this user startuphook feature set because it was abused by low-skill python library writers  using it to impolitely inject their code into the global namespace  before all user-defined programs   If you want this to work for python3  you ll have to get more creative   If I tell you how to do it  python developers will disable that feature set as well  so you re on your own     See  https   docs python org 2 library user html  Put this code into your home directory in    pythonrc py  class secretclass      def secretmessage cls  myarg           return myarg     is if   up in the sky  the sky      secretmessage   classmethod  secretmessage        def skycake cls           return  cookie and sky pie people can t go up and       skycake   classmethod  skycake     Put this code into your main py  can be anywhere    import user msg    The only way skycake tates good   msg   user secretclass secretmessage msg  msg    user secretclass skycake   print msg     have the sky pie  SKYCAKE      Run it  you should get this     python main py The only way skycake tates good is if   up in the sky   the skycookie and sky pie people can t go up and  have the sky pie   SKYCAKE    If you get an error here  ModuleNotFoundError  No module named  user  then it means you re using python3  startuphooks are disabled there by default   Credit for this jist goes to  https   github com docwhat homedir-examples blob master python-commandline  pythonrc py  Send along your up-boats   Example 7  Most Robust  Import files in python with the bare import command    Make a new directory  home el foo5  Make a new directory  home el foo5 herp Make an empty file named   init   py under herp   el apollo  home el foo5 herp  touch   init   py el apollo  home el foo5 herp  ls   init   py  Make a new directory  home el foo5 herp derp Under derp  make another   init   py file   el apollo  home el foo5 herp derp  touch   init   py el apollo  home el foo5 herp derp  ls   init   py  Under  home el foo5 herp derp make a new file called yolo py Put this in there   def skycake      print  SkyCake evolves to stay just beyond the cognitive reach of        the bulk of men  SKYCAKE     The moment of truth  Make the new file  home el foo5 main py  put this in there   from herp derp yolo import skycake skycake    Run it   el apollo  home el foo5  python main py SkyCake evolves to stay just beyond the cognitive reach of the bulk  of men  SKYCAKE     The empty   init   py file communicates to the python interpreter that the developer intends this directory to be an importable package    If you want to see my post on how to include ALL  py files under a directory see here  https   stackoverflow com a 20753073 445131

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This is how I did to call a function from a python file  that is flexible for me to call any functions   import os  importlib  sys  def callfunc myfile  myfunc   args       pathname  filename   os path split myfile      sys path append os path abspath pathname       modname   os path splitext filename  0      mymod   importlib import module modname      result   getattr mymod  myfunc   args      return result  result   callfunc  pathto myfile py    myfunc   arg1  arg2

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If the function defined is in a file x py   def greet        print  Hello  How are you      In the file where you are importing the function  write this   from x import greet   This is useful if you do not wish to import all the functions in a file

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One very unknown feature of Python is the ability to import zip files   library zip  -library  --  init   py   The file   init   py of the package contains the following   def dummy        print  Testing things out       We can write another script which can import a package from the zip archive  It is only necessary to add the zip file to the sys path   import sys sys path append r library zip    import library  def run        library dummy    run

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from y import      Say you have a file x and y  You want to import y file to x   then go to your x file and place the above command  To test this just put a print function in your y file and when your import was successful then in x file it should print it

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from file import function name           Importing specific function function name                            Calling function   and   import file                       Importing whole package file function1 name               Calling function file function2 name               Calling function   Here are the two simple ways I have understood by now and make sure your  file py  file which you want to import as a library is present in your current directory only

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To import a specific Python file at  runtime  with a known name   import os import sys        scriptpath       Test      Add the directory containing your module to the Python path  wants absolute paths  sys path append os path abspath scriptpath      Do the import import MyModule

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In case the module you want to import is not in a sub-directory  then try the following and run app py from the deepest common parent directory   Directory Structure    path to common dir module file py  path to common dir application app py  path to common dir application subpath config json   In app py  append path of client to sys path   import os  sys  inspect  sys path append os getcwd    from module file import MyClass instance   MyClass     Optional  If you load e g  configs   Inspect seems to be the most robust one for my use cases     Get dirname from inspect module filename   inspect getframeinfo inspect currentframe    filename dirname   os path dirname os path abspath filename   MY CONFIG   os path join dirname   subpath config json     Run  user host  path to common dir  python3 application app py   This solution works for me in cli  as well as PyCharm

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First case  You want to import file A py in file B py  these two files are in the same folder  like this       -- A py   -- B py   You can do this in file B py   import A   or   from A import     or   from A import THINGS YOU WANT TO IMPORT IN A   Then you will be able to use all the functions of file A py in file B py    Second case  You want to import file folder A py in file B py  these two files are not in the same folder  like this      -- B py  -- folder       -- A py   You can do this in file B   import folder A   or  from folder A import     or  from folder A import THINGS YOU WANT TO IMPORT IN A   Then you will be able to use all the functions of file A py in file B py    Summary  In the first case  file A py is a module that you imports in file B py  you used the syntax import module name  In the second case  folder is the package that contains the module A py  you used the syntax import package name module name   For more info on packages and modules  consult this link

User · Answer

There are many ways  as listed above  but I find that I just want to import he contents of a file  and don t want to have to write lines and lines and have to import other modules  So  I came up with a way to get the contents of a file  even with the dot syntax  file property  as opposed to merging the imported file with yours   First of all  here is my file which I ll import  data py      testString   A string literal to import and test with     Note  You could use the  txt extension instead  In mainfile py  start by opening and getting the contents         usr bin env python3     Data open  data txt   r    read     Now you have the contents as a string  but trying to access data testString will cause an error  as data is an instance of the str class  and even if it does have a property testString it will not do what you expected  Next  create a class  For instance  pun intended   ImportedFile      class ImportedFile    And put this into it  with the appropriate indentation        exec data     And finally  re-assign data like so       data ImportedFile     And that s it  Just access like you would for any-other module  typing print data testString  will print to the console A string literal to import and test with  If  however  you want the equivalent of from mod import   just drop the class  instance assignment  and de-dent the exec   Hope this helps   -Benji

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How I import is import the file and use shorthand of it s name   import DoStuff py as DS DS main     Don t forget that your importing file MUST BE named with  py extension

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This may sound crazy but you can just create a symbolic link to the file you want to import if you re just creating a wrapper script to it

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You can also do this  from filename import something  example  from client import Client Note that you do not need the  py  pyw  pyui extension

[python] How to import other Python files?

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