Is it possible to fix problems with relative imports? - python-3.x

I have some problems with import mechanic. For example I have a tree like this:
├── my_package
| ├── first.py
| └── second.py
└── test.py
second.py:
def second_func():
print('Hello World')
first.py:
from second import second_func
def first_func():
second_func()
test.py:
from my_package.first import first_func
first_func()
And when I try to run test.py I get this error:
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'second'
It feels like second.py is not searched in my_package, but in the directory where my_pacakage and test.py are located. This is a strange mechanics, because if I have a ready-made package, I don’t want to create some new file in it, I want to interact with it from another place.

First create a __init__.py in the my_package. Change import statement of the first.py to the following
from .second import second_func
Then run python test.py. It should give Hello World

Related

importing custom made package from another directory

I recently developed a package with the following structure:
.
├── Foo
│ ├── module1.py
│ ├── module2.py
│ ├── __init__.py
where we have:
#__init__.py
from module1 import function1, function2
from module2 import function3
#module1.py
def function1():
print("Hello")
def function2():
print("World")
#module2.py
def function3():
print("Hello again")
I wish to be able to import my full package Foo at once from another directory (with no relative path I can relate to).
For instance, I would like to be able to call Foo.module1.function1() in my scripts on another drive.
I cannot use sys.path, and I cannot just move either my script or package into parent/child directories.
I know I can import all modules one by one from a specific directory using importlib (cf. How to import a module given the full path?), and then looping, for instance with glob, but I read that configuring the __init__ file should allow me to import everything at once. Any advice ? (for what it matters, using Python3.9, with no access to PyCharm)

Python cannot import py files in the same folder

VSCode Version: 1.41.1
OS Version:Ubuntu 18.04
Steps to Reproduce:
# tree:
.
├── demo1
│ ├── __init__.py
│ └── test.py
├── __init__.py
├── auto.py
# auto.py
def func():
print("1")
# test.py
from auto import func
func()
Use examples to solve problems that arise in a project
Run the test.py file, and I get "ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'func'"
I used 'CTRL '+ left mouse button in test.py to jump to func
The same code can be run in pycharm
If you run test.py directly then you need to add the parent folder to PYTHONPATH. Try:
import sys
sys.path.append("..\<parent_folder>")
from auto import func
Otherwise, if you merely want to import test.py in another .py file, you can use relative import of python
from . import auto #another dot '.' to go up two packages
auto.func()
Reference
Add this in test.py, before import:
import sys
sys.path.insert(0, "/path/to/project/root/directory")
For me it's not a good file organization. A better practice might be as below:
Let your project file tree be like:
.
├── __init__.py
├── lib
│ ├── auto.py
│ └── __init__.py
└── test.py
And write test.py like:
from lib.auto import func
func()
Simple one-line solution
from ... import auto
and call the function by using auto.func().

python3.x : ModuleNotFoundError when import file from parent directory

I am new to Python. This really confused me!
My directory structure is like this:
Project
| - subpackage1
|- a.py
| - subpackage2
|- b.py
| - c.py
When I import a.py into b.py with from subpackage1 import a, I get a ModuleNotFoundError. It seems like I cannot import a file from the parent directory.
Some solutions suggest to add an empty file __init__.py in each directory, but that does not work. As a work around, I have put the following in each subfile (i.e., a.py and b.py) to access the parent directory:
import os
import sys
sys.path.append(os.path.abspath('..'))
I have tried to output sys.path in subfiles, it only includes the current file path and anaconda path, so I have to append .. to sys.path.
How can I solve this problem? Is there a more efficient way?
Suppose we have this files and directories tree:
$> tree
.
├── main.py
├── submodule1
│   ├── a.py
│   └── __init__.py
└── submodule2
├── b.py
└── __init__.py
2 directories, 5 files
So, here is an example of how to do the import from a.py inti b.py and vice-versa.
a.py
try:
# Works when we're at the top lovel and we call main.py
from submodule1 import b
except ImportError:
# If we're not in the top level
# And we're trying to call the file directly
import sys
# add the submodules to $PATH
# sys.path[0] is the current file's path
sys.path.append(sys.path[0] + '/..')
from submodule2 import b
def hello_from_a():
print('hello from a')
if __name__ == '__main__':
hello_from_a()
b.hello_from_b()
b.py
try:
from submodule1 import a
except ImportError:
import sys
sys.path.append(sys.path[0] + '/..')
from submodule1 import a
def hello_from_b():
print("hello from b")
if __name__ == '__main__':
hello_from_b()
a.hello_from_a()
And, main.py:
from submodule1 import a
from submodule2 import b
def main():
print('hello from main')
a.hello_from_a()
b.hello_from_b()
if __name__ == '__main__':
main()
Demo:
When we're in the top level and we're trying to call main.py
$> pwd
/home/user/modules
$> python3 main.py
hello from main
hello from a
hello from b
When w're in /modules/submodule1 level and we're trying to call a.py
$> pwd
/home/user/modules/submodule1
$> python3 a.py
hello from a
hello from b
When we're /modules/submodule2 level and we're trying to call b.py
$> pwd
/home/user/modules/submodule2
$> python3 b.py
hello from b
hello from a
The first issue you're getting is due to that from subpackage1 import a line in your b.py module.
b.py is located in your subpackage2 package, a sibling package of subpackage1. So trying to run from subpackage1 import a means the subpackage1 is within subpackage2 which is incorrect. Also as side note, in python3 you should never use implicit relative imports as it no longer supports it, so instead use explicit relative imports.
Adding an __init__.py in each folder turns them in python packages, and you can keep them empty. You want to replace the from subpackage1 import a with either an explicit relative import like from ..subpackage1 import a or an absolute import like from Project.subpackage1 import a. This will be the efficient and correct way to write your package, and you can test it by writing a script that imports Project and uses its subpackages and modules.
However, I am assuming you are running b.py as a main module to test the imports. This means you are running command lines that look like: python b.py. Running it like this gives you a module search path that does not have any of the parent paths like Project. This would lead to you keep getting ModuleNotFoundErrors even though there's nothing technically wrong with your package. This is why you need a sys.path.append(... work-around that manually appends your parent path to the module search path in order to run your b.py module as a main module. If this helps you to test your code then by all means use it, but it is fine to use the absolute and explicit relative imports because modules in a package are supposed to work that way.
Firstly, you need create file __init__.py in subpackage1 to declare it is a module
touch subpackage1/__init__.py
Secondly, you can try relative import in python3
# b.py
from ..subpackage1 import a
Or you can add your current directory to $PYTHONPATH
export PYTHONPATH=${PYTHONPATH}:${PWD}
One way to access the subpackage is using . operator going all the way up to top package or file directory. Thus if the structure is
top_directory
|- package1
|- subpackage1
|- a.py
|- package2
|- subpackage2
|- b.py
Then you use the following
#b.py
from top_directory.package1.subpackage1 import a
statements...
The from statement must go all the way up to the top directory covering both a.py and b.py.
This SO Q&A discusses options for adding your project root to the PYTHONPATH.
1. mac/linux:
add export PYTHONPATH="${PYTHONPATH}:/path/to/Project_top_directory" to your ~/.bashrc
2. path config file:
Alternatively, you can create a path configuration file
# find directory
SITEDIR=$(python -m site --user-site)
# create if it doesn't exist
mkdir -p "$SITEDIR"
# create new .pth file with our path
echo "$HOME/foo/bar" > "$SITEDIR/somelib.pth"

How to import module so that it can be accessed from any directory?

I have the following project structure:
x/
a.py
b.py
main.py
a.py:
from b import *
class A:
.....
main.py
from x.a import A
.....
I want to be able to run a.py independently as well as access its functionality through main.py
I'm able to run a.py but when I try to import it as shown in main.py, the module is unable to be found. I can fix this problem by adding the following line to a.py:
sys.path.append(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__)))
but this feels hacky. Is there a better way to achieve the desired behavior?
You need to mark the directory "x" as a package to be able to load anything off it.
As stated in the official documentation of Python, you have to create an empty "__init__.py" file in the root of "x" to mark it off as a package.
Then your directory structure should look something like this:
.
└── x
├── __init__.py
├── a.py
└── b.py
└── main.py
You may want to edit "a.py" to load the modules relative to the package it is in using a period to represent the current package:
# x/a.py
from .b import *
class A:
# rest of your code

Importing custom module cleanly

I would like to import a class from my submodule without having to use the from submodule.submodule import Class syntax. Instead I would just like to do from submodule import Class like a normal Python3 module.
I feel this should have been answered a million times, and while there are several similarly named questions on SO, none of them provide a clear, simple solution with a bare-bones example.
I'm trying to get the simplest test working with this setup:
.
├── main.py
└── test
├── __init__.py
└── test.py
In my test module, I have the following contents:
test.py
class Test:
def __init__(self):
print('hello')
__init__.py
from test import Test
__all__ = ['Test']
In the upper-level main.py I have the following:
from test import Test
Test()
When I try to run main.py I get:
ImportError: cannot import name 'Test'
I know I could replace the import statement in main.py with from test.test import Test, but my understanding was that one of the points of __init__.py was to make submodules accessible at the package level (with __all__ allowing to import all with from test import *)
According to PEP 404:
In Python 3, implicit relative imports within packages are no longer
available - only absolute imports and explicit relative imports are
supported. In addition, star imports (e.g. from x import *) are only
permitted in module level code.
If you change __init__.py to:
from test.test import Test
__all__ = ['Test']
then your code works:
$ python3 main.py
hello
But now it works only on python3 (and your original code works only on python2).
To have code that works on both lines of python, we have to use explicit relative import:
from .test import Test
__all__ = ['Test']
Code execution:
$ python2 main.py
hello
$ python3 main.py
hello

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