How do I import a module whose name clashes with a

Question

I have several python modules in a directory.

In the same directory, I have a package tests.

I would quite like to name the modules in tests the same as the modules that they contain tests for, although of course it isn't critical.

So, in tests.foo I naively write import foo. This isn't working so well - it imports tests.foo, not top-level foo.

Can I do what I want, or do I just have to call the test module test_foo?

Sorry if this is obvious or a dupe, my search-fu has failed.

Answer 1

Use the full package path like this:

--Package
   |-- __init__.py
   |-- foo.py
   |
   |-- tests
   |    | -- __init__.py
        | -- foo.py

in tests/foo.py do

from Package import foo

And i think this part of the documentation can interest you : http://docs.python.org/whatsnew/2.5.html#pep-328-absolute-and-relative-imports

Answer 2

test_foo.py seems like an appropriate solution in this case.

If you don't rename the test modules then make the tests directory into Python package (add tests/__init__.py file) and use absolute imports:

from __future__ import absolute_import 
import foo                   # import global foo.py, the first foo.py in sys.path
import tests.foo as test_foo # import tests/foo.py