How to properly call functions defined in other directories in Python?

Question

Sorry, this has been already answered for sure, but I cannot find the answer to my problem... I want to make two separate scripts callable. Let me explain in detail with an example.

I have a directory structure similar to this:

maindir
|- subdir
|   |- script.py
|   `- myfunc.py
`- main.py

with the following content:

In myfunc.py there is

def myverynicefunc():
    print('Hello, I am your very nice func :)')

in script.py there is

import myfunc

def scriptfunc():
    print('I am the script function :)')

myfunc.myverynicefunc()

and in main.py there is

from subdir.script import scriptfunc

scriptfunc()

If I go to the subdir directory and execute the script it works, I mean:

.../main_dir/subdir$ python3 script.py 
Hello, I am your very nice func :)

However if I try to execute the main.py script it fails:

.../main_dir$ python3 main.py 
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "main.py", line 1, in <module>
    from subdir.script import scriptfunc
  File "/home/alf/Escritorio/main_dir/subdir/script.py", line 1, in <module>
    import myfunc
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'myfunc'

If I modify the content of script.py to

from . import myfunc

def scriptfunc():
    print('I am the script function :)')

myfunc.myverynicefunc()

now the situation is the inverse, the main.py script works ok:

.../main_dir$ python3 main.py 
Hello, I am your very nice func :)
I am the script function :)

but the script.py script fails:

.../main_dir/subdir$ python3 script.py 
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "script.py", line 1, in <module>
    from . import myfunc
ImportError: cannot import name 'myfunc'

Is there a way to make both calls to main.py and to script.py to work?

Apoorv Goyal · Accepted Answer · 2019-05-23 21:48:26Z

1

Try this in your script.py-

import sys
current_path = sys.path[0]
if current_path.split('/')[-1] != 'subdir':
    sys.path.insert(0, current_path+'/subdir/')
    import myfunc

By this, if the current directory for python is the parent directory of the file, that is the maindir, it would change the path to directory and then import it.

With this, it should work in both scenarios. Hope this helps. :)

answered May 23, 2019 at 21:48

Apoorv Goyal

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4 Comments

user171780 Over a year ago

Thanks, you were near. Your answer as it is didn't worked, but a little modification did indeed. I had to place this in script.py

import sys current_path = sys.path[0] if current_path.split('/')[-1] != 'subdir': 	sys.path.insert(0, current_path+'/subdir/') 	from . import myfunc else: 	import myfunc

user171780 Over a year ago

Although this worked, seems like an ugly solution (sorry). I will wait some time to see if some one provides a better answer. Else I will accept yours :). Thanks!

Apoorv Goyal Over a year ago

I forgot to add that, though I had that in mind. Sorry! :P

Apoorv Goyal Over a year ago

Yes, it's highly not recommended. It's just a hack around it. :)

The_Pingu · Accepted Answer · 2019-05-23 21:42:11Z

0

with the second scenario, you can do python3 -c "import subdir.script" in your main directory

answered May 23, 2019 at 21:42

The_Pingu

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