Python importlib import_module Relative Import of Module

Question

According to this answer, you can use importlib to import_module using a relative import like so:

importlib.import_module('.c', 'a.b')

Why doesn't relative import work for sklearn.feature_extraction.text ?

importlib.import_module('.text', 'sklearn.feature_extraction')

I verified that text is a module with:

from types import ModuleType
import sklearn.feature_extraction.text
isinstance(sklearn.feature_extraction.text, ModuleType)

Returns

True

Edit

By "doesn't work", I mean it doesn't import the module.

I am using Python 3.4

Absolute way works:

import importlib
text = importlib.import_module('sklearn.feature_extraction.text')
tfidf = text.TfidfVectorizer()

Relative way doesn't:

import importlib
text = importlib.import_module('.text', 'sklearn.feature_extraction')
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<pyshell#28>", line 1, in <module>
    text = importlib.import_module('.text', 'sklearn.feature_extraction')
  File "C:\Python34\lib\importlib\__init__.py", line 109, in import_module
    return _bootstrap._gcd_import(name[level:], package, level)
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 2249, in _gcd_import
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 2199, in _sanity_check
SystemError: Parent module 'sklearn.feature_extraction' not loaded, cannot perform relative import

What do you mean by "doesn't work"?

cdonts
– cdonts

2016-07-11 15:25:24 +00:00
Commented Jul 11, 2016 at 15:25 — cdonts
– cdonts, Commented Jul 11, 2016 at 15:25

Dany · Accepted Answer · 2019-05-14 07:14:00Z

4

The parent module needs to be imported before trying a relative import.

You will have to add import sklearn.feature_extraction before your call to import_module if you want it to work.

Nice explanation here : https://stackoverflow.com/a/28154841/1951430

edited May 14, 2019 at 7:14

Dany

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answered Jul 11, 2016 at 16:10

jobou

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3 Comments

Jarad Over a year ago

What then is the point and purpose of importlib.import_module() ? If I have to import sklearn.feature_extraction anyways, why wouldn't I just import sklearn.feature_extraction.text in the head of the file? Do you have a good use-case of when to use importlib.import_module?

jobou Over a year ago

importlib just provides the feature of the import statement in python code.

LogicDaemon Over a year ago

@Jarad you might not know the module name while writing the code. It can be read from some config file, for example.

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