{"id":122641,"date":"2020-12-29T16:37:27","date_gmt":"2020-12-29T16:37:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.finxter.com\/?p=19786"},"modified":"2020-12-29T16:37:27","modified_gmt":"2020-12-29T16:37:27","slug":"python-how-to-import-modules-from-another-folder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2020\/12\/29\/python-how-to-import-modules-from-another-folder\/","title":{"rendered":"Python \u2014 How to Import Modules From Another Folder?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The most Pythonic way to import a module from another folder <\/em><\/strong>is to place an empty file named __init__.py<\/code> into that folder and use the relative path with the dot notation<\/em><\/strong>. For example, a module in the parent folder would be imported with from .. import module<\/code>. The __init__.py<\/code> file signals to Python that the folder should be treated as package<\/em><\/strong>. <\/p>\n

Problem<\/strong>: How to import a file or a module from another folder or directory in Python?<\/p>\n

Example<\/strong>: Say, you’ve given the following folder structure:<\/p>\n

application \u251c\u2500\u2500 app \u2502 \u2514\u2500\u2500 folder \u2502 \u2514\u2500\u2500 file_1.py \u2514\u2500\u2500 app2 \u2514\u2500\u2500 some_folder \u2514\u2500\u2500 file_2.py<\/pre>\n
Your goal is to import functions from file_1.py<\/code> in file_2.py<\/code>.<\/p>\n
Method 1: sys.path.append()<\/h2>\n
The first method appends the path of the file_1.py<\/code> to the system’s path variable. <\/p>\n
# file_2.py\nimport sys\nsys.path.append('\/...\/application\/app\/folder') import file_1<\/pre>\n
Note that you need to replace the first three dots in '\/\u2026\/application\/app\/folder'<\/code> with the concrete path to the applications<\/code> folder. <\/p>\n
Method 2: sys.path.insert()<\/h2>\n
A similar alternative is to insert the path of file_1.py<\/code> to position 1 of the system’s path variable. This ensures that it’s loaded with higher priority and avoids some naming conflicts:<\/p>\n
# file_2.py\nimport sys\nsys.path.insert(1, '\/...\/application\/app\/folder') import file<\/pre>\n
Again, replace the first three dots in '\/\u2026\/application\/app\/folder'<\/code> with the concrete path to the applications<\/code> folder.<\/p>\n
Method 3: Dot Notation with __init__.py<\/h2>\n
You can also do the following trick—creating a new package.<\/p>\n
# file_2.py\nfrom application.app.folder.file_1 import func_name<\/pre>\n
However, you need to make sure to include an empty __init__.py<\/code> file in the directory. This file tells Python to treat the directory as a package. It is considered to be the most Pythonic way of solving this problem. <\/p>\n
Method 4: Importlib<\/h2>\n
A not-so Pythonic alternative is to use the importlib<\/code> module:<\/p>\n
import importlib.util\nspec = importlib.util.spec_from_file_location(\"file_2\", '\/...\/application\/app\/folder')\nlib = importlib.util.module_from_spec(spec)\nspec.loader.exec_module(foo)\nlib.function()<\/pre>\n
References<\/strong><\/p>\n