CODEWITHSUNDEEP
pythonpython-2.7
petebachant
petebachant

Reputation: 87

How to go about creating a Python package with only one module?

I have a module written that I'd like to make a "package" some day. Right now I keep it in a subfolder with the same name inside a directory on my Python path (with an empty __init__.py module in there with it). The problem is, to import these modules into other programs (and get Spyder's autocompletion to recognize the module's contents) I have to do something like

from modulename import modulename

or 

import modulename.modulename as modulename

when I'd rather just

import modulename

I have tried making the __init__.py inside the directory import everything from the module, but this doesn't work with Spyder's autocompletion. What's the appropriate way to do this? Numpy has many modules but still has some available at the top level namespace. It seems it does this by e.g.

import core
from core import *

Is this the route I should take, or is my problem the fact that the module name is the same as the folder name?

Upvotes: 6

Views: 1342

Answers (3)

Booboo
Booboo

Reputation: 44108

As @Takahiro recommended, it's not a great idea to have a module with the same name as a package, but it's not an impossibility.

The __init__.py in the modulename directory can be the following:

from .modulename import *

Then, for example, modulename.py in that directory might be:

def foo():
    print('I am foo')

Then a client program could be

import modulename

modulename.foo()

or

from modulename import foo

foo()

etc.

Upvotes: 2

Paloha
Paloha

Reputation: 680

In the question title you ask about package with only one module but later you ask about Spyder. Anyways, I still believe this can be seen as a duplicate of this question from StackExchange.com. There is an excellent answer by the user Martijn Pieters. In order to provide some answer, not just a link I will sum it up bellow.

You do not have to create a package (subfolder) for your module (file). Just put your module.py file into the root of your project where e.g. setup.py is. From Martijn Pieters' answer:

You do the simplest thing that works for you. ...

Packages are useful for creating an additional namespace and/or for organising your code across multiple modules.

If you want examples: six is a distribution of just one module

There is a mention of such single module distributions on this page of the Python documentation.

Upvotes: 0

Takahiro
Takahiro

Reputation: 1262

Do not create a module with a same name within its package. http://docs.python.org/2/tutorial/modules.html#the-module-search-path

Upvotes: 0

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