CODEWITHSUNDEEP
python
Richard
Richard

Reputation: 65600

Python path confusion: can import directory but not files?

I'm struggling with Python paths. I want to be able to import a file from a directory. I can do this when it's available from the filesystem, but not when I'm relying on my PATH (update: or PYTHONPATH) to find it.

Here are the symptoms. First of all, check that my current directory is on my PATH:

(.venv)~/Dropbox/gds/myapp $ pwd
/Users/me/Dropbox/gds/myapp
(.venv)~/Dropbox/gds/myapp $ echo $PATH
... :/usr/local/go/bin:.:/Users/me/Dropbox/gds/myapp

And check that test/test_app is where I think it is (and has an __init__.py in the directory:

(.venv)~/Dropbox/gds/myapp $ ls tests/
__init__.py __pycache__ test_app.py test_views.py

Now check that Python can import test/test_app from this directory:

(.venv)~/Dropbox/gds/myapp $ python
Python 3.4.2 (default, Jan 29 2015, 13:46:46)
[GCC 4.2.1 Compatible Apple LLVM 6.0 (clang-600.0.56)] on darwin
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import tests
>>> import tests.test_app
>>> exit()

All good so far. Now move to a different directory, and see if I can import test/test_app:

(.venv)~/Dropbox/gds/myapp $ cd ..
(.venv)~/Dropbox/gds $ python
Python 3.4.2 (default, Jan 29 2015, 13:46:46)
[GCC 4.2.1 Compatible Apple LLVM 6.0 (clang-600.0.56)] on darwin
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import tests
>>> import tests.test_app
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
ImportError: No module named 'tests.test_app'

But /Users/me/Dropbox/gds/myapp is on my PATH, and I can import the directory, so why can't I import this file?

UPDATE:

Thanks for the suggestions. Just tried doing export PYTHONPATH=$PYTHONPATH:/Users/me/Dropbox/gds/myapp: but still see the same problem when I run Python.

Upvotes: 1

Views: 179

Answers (3)

jfs
jfs

Reputation: 414825

There is probably another tests Python package in sys.path. Check tests.__file__ to confirm. To fix it, use more specific names e.g., myapp.tests instead i.e., move tests package inside myapp Python package.

Upvotes: 1

jwodder
jwodder

Reputation: 57630

The directory needs to be in PYTHONPATH, not PATH (which is for regular non-Python command lookup).

Upvotes: 1

Martijn Pieters
Martijn Pieters

Reputation: 1124718

Python doesn't use PATH. It uses the PYTHONPATH variable to look up modules:

Augment the default search path for module files. The format is the same as the shell’s PATH: one or more directory pathnames separated by os.pathsep (e.g. colons on Unix or semicolons on Windows).

PATH is a variable used by your shell to look up binaries; only the format (how paths are specified and separated) is shared.

Upvotes: 0

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