Python : Modules,Imports and Packages

This post is about modules and imports in Python. As program grows we will split into several files for easy maintainance and re-use.These files are called modules. For using functions in these modules we have to import module into other modules or main module. This post discusses about modules and imports. After reading this post you will get a basic understanding on how modules and imports works in python.

Let us create a module (calk.py) for advancing our discussion, this is just a module with no real meaning or functionality .

# calk.py
pi = 3.14

def add(x, y):
    return x+y

def mult(x, y):
    return x*y

def spam():
    add(pi, 4)
    print('junk')
    print(pi)
print ('started..')
spam()

We can run this module directly as shown below.

>python calk.py
started..
junk
3.14

In order to use this module we have to import it as shown below. Here we are using it from shell. Importing a module loads the module into memory and creates an isoloated environment.For accessing the module functions we uses the module name as a prefix.

>>> import calk
started..
junk
3.14
>>> calk

>>> calk.add(1,2)
3

There is also another syntax to import as shown below.

>>> from calk import add
>>> add(1,3)
4
>>> mult(3,4)
NameError: name 'mult' is not defined   

There is a confusion that importing the module is this way is more efficient, but that is completely wrong.Both syntax will load the entire module into memory and only thing the second syntax is doing is aliasing the specified function to access with out module prefix

Another important aspect regarding import is that its a one time operation in a session. So once a module is imported, its cached in memory of that session and further imports are ignored by python interpreter. You can view all modules cached using sys module function as shown below. .

>>> import sys
>>> sys.modules # print entire dictionary
>>> sys.modules['calk']

That means, if we made any code changes in module and imported again with out exiting sessions, your recent code change in module will not get reflected until you exit the session and import it again.

Another info regarding import is that, sometimes when we try to import a module residing in a diffrent folder, python fails to import that module. Because python checks only specific paths to find the modules .So if you are trying to import a module outside this path you will have to augment the search path. You can see the search paths by running following command.

>>> sys.path

You can use sys.path.append() or env variables to augment the path.

In the above example when we import the module, it is getting executed as a script, but usually we don’t want the module to be executed when we import it and execute only when we are running it as script. We can use the magic variable __name__ == '__main__' to detect in which mode its running. So if its __main__ it means that its getting run as a script. So let us update our module as shown below.

pi = 3.14

def add(x, y):
    return x+y

def mult(x, y):
    return x*y

def spam():
    add(pi, 4)
    print('junk')
    print(pi)

if __name__ == '__main__':
    print('started..')
    print (__name__)
    spam()

Coding is fun enjoy…