How to import a module given the full path?

Question

How can I load a Python module given its full path? Note that the file can be anywhere in the filesystem, as it is a configuration option.

Answer 1

Import package modules at runtime (Python recipe)

http://code.activestate.com/recipes/223972/

###################
##                #
## classloader.py #
##                #
###################

import sys, types

def _get_mod(modulePath):
    try:
        aMod = sys.modules[modulePath]
        if not isinstance(aMod, types.ModuleType):
            raise KeyError
    except KeyError:
        # The last [''] is very important!
        aMod = __import__(modulePath, globals(), locals(), [''])
        sys.modules[modulePath] = aMod
    return aMod

def _get_func(fullFuncName):
    """Retrieve a function object from a full dotted-package name."""

    # Parse out the path, module, and function
    lastDot = fullFuncName.rfind(u".")
    funcName = fullFuncName[lastDot + 1:]
    modPath = fullFuncName[:lastDot]

    aMod = _get_mod(modPath)
    aFunc = getattr(aMod, funcName)

    # Assert that the function is a *callable* attribute.
    assert callable(aFunc), u"%s is not callable." % fullFuncName

    # Return a reference to the function itself,
    # not the results of the function.
    return aFunc

def _get_class(fullClassName, parentClass=None):
    """Load a module and retrieve a class (NOT an instance).

    If the parentClass is supplied, className must be of parentClass
    or a subclass of parentClass (or None is returned).
    """
    aClass = _get_func(fullClassName)

    # Assert that the class is a subclass of parentClass.
    if parentClass is not None:
        if not issubclass(aClass, parentClass):
            raise TypeError(u"%s is not a subclass of %s" %
                            (fullClassName, parentClass))

    # Return a reference to the class itself, not an instantiated object.
    return aClass


######################
##       Usage      ##
######################

class StorageManager: pass
class StorageManagerMySQL(StorageManager): pass

def storage_object(aFullClassName, allOptions={}):
    aStoreClass = _get_class(aFullClassName, StorageManager)
    return aStoreClass(allOptions)

Answer 2

If your top-level module is not a file but is packaged as a directory with __init__.py, then the accepted solution almost works, but not quite. In Python 3.5+ the following code is needed (note the added line that begins with 'sys.modules'):

MODULE_PATH = "/path/to/your/module/__init__.py"
MODULE_NAME = "mymodule"
spec = importlib.util.spec_from_file_location(MODULE_NAME, MODULE_PATH)
module = importlib.util.module_from_spec(spec)
sys.modules[spec.name] = module 
spec.loader.exec_module(module)

Without this line, when exec_module is executed, it tries to bind relative imports in your top level __init__.py to the top level module name -- in this case "mymodule". But "mymodule" isn't loaded yet so you'll get the error "SystemError: Parent module 'mymodule' not loaded, cannot perform relative import". So you need to bind the name before you load it. The reason for this is the fundamental invariant of the relative import system: "The invariant holding is that if you have sys.modules['spam'] and sys.modules['spam.foo'] (as you would after the above import), the latter must appear as the foo attribute of the former" as discussed here.

Answer 3

I believe you can use imp.find_module() and imp.load_module() to load the specified module. You'll need to split the module name off of the path, i.e. if you wanted to load /home/mypath/mymodule.py you'd need to do:

imp.find_module('mymodule', '/home/mypath/')

...but that should get the job done.

Answer 4

The best way, I think, is from the official documentation (29.1. imp — Access the import internals):

import imp
import sys

def __import__(name, globals=None, locals=None, fromlist=None):
    # Fast path: see if the module has already been imported.
    try:
        return sys.modules[name]
    except KeyError:
        pass

    # If any of the following calls raises an exception,
    # there's a problem we can't handle -- let the caller handle it.

    fp, pathname, description = imp.find_module(name)

    try:
        return imp.load_module(name, fp, pathname, description)
    finally:
        # Since we may exit via an exception, close fp explicitly.
        if fp:
            fp.close()

Answer 5

quite simple way: suppose you want import file with relative path ../../MyLibs/pyfunc.py

libPath = '../../MyLibs'
import sys
if not libPath in sys.path: sys.path.append(libPath)
import pyfunc as pf

But if you make it without a guard you can finally get a very long path

Answer 6

I made a package that uses imp for you. I call it import_file and this is how it's used:

>>>from import_file import import_file
>>>mylib = import_file('c:\\mylib.py')
>>>another = import_file('relative_subdir/another.py')

You can get it at:

http://pypi.python.org/pypi/import_file

or at

http://code.google.com/p/import-file/