`importlib.import_module` not finding module in working directory

Question

I would like to import from the current working directory. For example:

import os
import pathlib
import tempfile
from importlib import import_module

with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as temp_dir:
    tmp_dir = pathlib.Path(temp_dir)
    (tmp_dir / "foo").mkdir()
    (tmp_dir / "foo" / "__init__.py").write_text("def bar(): pass")
    orig = os.getcwd()
    os.chdir(tmp_dir)
    print(import_module("foo"))
    os.chdir(orig)

However:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/Users/tdegeus/data/prog/src/conda_envfile/t.py", line 12, in <module>
    print(import_module("foo"))
          ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/Users/tdegeus/miniforge3/envs/pre/lib/python3.11/importlib/__init__.py", line 126, in import_module
    return _bootstrap._gcd_import(name[level:], package, level)
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1204, in _gcd_import
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1176, in _find_and_load
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1140, in _find_and_load_unlocked
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'foo'

(It does work if the directory exists prior to execution.)

The list of directories to be searched for imports are defined when the interpreter starts, with the current working directory and any directories listed in the PYTHONPATH environment variable prepended to the list. Changing current working directory won't change add the new directory to the list, as Hai Vu noted in his answer. Just curious, what's the intended use of this? If you wrote the temp file to the current working directory, it should actually work, but I haven't tested it. — nigh_anxiety
– nigh_anxiety, Commented Feb 27, 2024 at 23:08

Hai Vu · Accepted Answer · 2024-02-27 17:17:08Z

2

My guess is the Python interpreter determines which directories should be in the "import path" before hand and os.chdir() could not change that fact. A work-around is to fix up the import path (sys.path) before importing:

import pathlib
import sys
import tempfile
from importlib import import_module

BAR = """
def bar():
    print("this is bar")
"""

with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as temp_dir:
    # Create the package
    tmp_dir = pathlib.Path(temp_dir)
    (tmp_dir / "foo").mkdir()
    (tmp_dir / "foo" / "__init__.py").write_text(BAR)

    # Fix up the import path and import
    sys.path.append(temp_dir)
    foo = import_module("foo")
    foo.bar()
    sys.path.remove(temp_dir)

answered Feb 27, 2024 at 17:17

Hai Vu

41.4k16 gold badges75 silver badges106 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

`importlib.import_module` not finding module in working directory

1 Answer 1

Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related