Dynamically import python module

Question

I have the following project structure:

python/
..core/
..envs/
  ..default/
  ....__init__
  ....default.py
  ..dev1/
  ....__init__
  ....dev1.py
dynamic_inventory.py

in dev1 i have the following:

from ..default.default import BaseInventory

in dynamic_inventory:

import inspect
from envs.dev1 import dev1
print inspect.getmembers(dev1, inspect.isclass)

it gives me right code:

> [('BaseInventory', <class 'envs.default.default.BaseInventory'>),
> ('BatchProcessor', <class 'envs.dev1.dev1.BatchProcessor'>), ...

but dynamically:

import inspect

sys.path.append("python/envs")
m = __import__("dev1")
print inspect.getmembers(m, inspect.isclass)

gives me: []

how to do import module dynamically?

Thanks!

Andrea Corbellini · Accepted Answer · 2016-02-28 12:31:39Z

4

There are two issues with your code.

Firstly, when you write from envs.dev1 import dev1 you are importing dev1 from the envs.dev1 package. But with __import__("dev1"), you are importing it as a standalone module.

Secondly: with sys.path.append("python/envs"); __import__("dev1") you are importing python/envs/dev1/__init__.py, because the python/envs directory contains the dev1 directory. But you want the python/envs/dev1/dev1.py file. That's why you are getting an empty list: your __init__.py does not define any class.

Putting everything together:

import inspect

# no sys.path manipulation
dev1 = __import__('envs.dev1.dev1', fromlist=['dev1'])
print inspect.getmembers(dev1, inspect.isclass)

edited Feb 28, 2016 at 12:31

answered Feb 28, 2016 at 12:29

Andrea Corbellini

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1 Comment

Dmitry Zagorulkin Over a year ago

Thank you for your help!

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