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Specifically, I need to get at some objects and globals from the main module in an imported module. I know how to find those things when the parent module wants some particular thing from a child module, but I can't figure out how to go in the other direction.

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  • Well, okay, I assume that must be the case since I can't find any answers about this anywhere. The bottom line is I'm not concerned about reusing any of this code, I'm just trying to break this project apart into multiple files so it's more manageable to find what I'm looking for. I don't really know what I'm doing, honestly, so this has been a learning experience, but really I just want it to be easier to find the code I want to edit when I want to edit it. Commented Sep 6, 2010 at 2:15
  • I agree that there ought to be a way to pass parameters to a module when it is imported -- kind of like when you pass them to an object constructor. However I've never found a clean way to do this. Commented Sep 6, 2010 at 10:14
  • 3
    I was looking for the exact same thing for the exact same reason, so it seems it's a typical newbie thing.. Commented Dec 15, 2012 at 20:33
  • Similar: Accessing argparse arguments from the class at CR SE Commented May 5, 2015 at 12:01

4 Answers 4

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import __main__

But don't do this.

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2 Comments

@Alcott: Because it can very easily turn your program into a pretzel.
@IgnacioVazquez-Abrams can you expand on that?
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The answer you're looking for is:

import __main__

main_global1= __main__.global1

However, whenever a module module1 needs stuff from the __main__ module, then:

  • either the __main__ module should provide all necessary data as parameters to a module1 function/class,
  • or you should put everything that needs to be shared in another module, and import it as import module2 in both __main__ and module1.
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2

I think this would work:

import sys    
main_mod = sys.modules['__main__']
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1 Comment

This is equivalent to import __main__ as main_mod.
1

Not sure if it is a good practice but maybe you could pass the objects and variables you need as parameters to the methods or classes you call in the imported module.

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1 Comment

that is in fact the suggested method, although the OP seems to be looking for __main__

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