Python Namespaces and Modules

Question

If I import a python module using a syntax like this:

import my_module

I can later use a number of simplest command to get an idea of what the module is, where it is located and etc. For example:

print(my_module)

outputs: module 'my_module' from 'my_module.py'

dir(my_module)

outputs: ['MyClass', 'builtins', 'doc', 'file', 'name', 'package', 'math', 'os', 'sys']

I even can find out an absolute path of the module by using:

print os.path.abspath( my_module.__file__  )

outputs: /Users/julia/Documents/classes/my_module.py

But if instead of import 'my_module' I would be using:

from my_module import MyClass

all I can is to:

print MyClass

which outputs: my_module.MyClass

I do see MyClass came from my_module file. But unfortunately that is all I can get since none of the commands I used to use to get the info on module doesn't work. Here is use and their output:

print dir(my_module.MyClass)  NameError: name 'my_module' is not defined

print dir(my_module)  NameError: name 'my_module' is not defined

print my_module  name 'my_module' is not defined

What command(-s) should I be using while tracking down the imported modules brought with

from my_module import MyClass

syntax?

huh? whats the question? if you just import MyClass ... you have only imported that class... — Joran Beasley
– Joran Beasley, Commented Jan 8, 2014 at 17:39
this worked for me. perhaps you don't import that module at all, and want to print its detail. — mojibuntu
– mojibuntu, Commented Jan 8, 2014 at 17:40

crash · Accepted Answer · 2014-01-08 18:01:13Z

1

The Problem is that

from my_module import MyClass

only imports MyClass but not the whole Module.

If you want to know the name of the Module MyClass was imported from, you can use:

print MyClass.__module__

If you want to use other Stuff from the same Module you could use:

my_module = __import__(MyClass.__module__)
print dir(my_module)

But it would be far more easy to just write:

import my_module

answered Jan 8, 2014 at 18:01

crash

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alphanumeric · Accepted Answer · 2014-01-08 19:36:11Z

0

Thanks Mr.Crash! Here is the summary:

If the module was imported with:

from my_module import MyClass

don't call the module by using its name directly. Instead get to it via class imported from this module (using class's module attr) such as:

print dir(MyClass.__module__)
print os.path.abspath( MyClass.__module__ )

answered Jan 8, 2014 at 19:36

alphanumeric

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