CODEWITHSUNDEEP
pythonpython-3.xpython-3.6python-importlibbuilt-in
andre
andre

Reputation: 173

Reloading builtins in Python

I'm exploring the concept of namespace in Python and I can't explain the following: reloading builtins does not effectively reload the module. Here's an example:

import importlib as il
import os

import mymodule
mymodule.x = 6
print(mymodule.x)
mymodule = il.reload(mymodule)
print(mymodule.x)


import builtins
builtins.print = lambda x : os.system('echo hello')
builtins.print('hi')
builtins = il.reload(builtins)
builtins.print('hi')

Where mymodule simply contains the assignment x = 5. The output is:

6
5
hello
hello

Maybe it's a dummy question, but what is the reason for this kind of behavior?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 982

Answers (1)

schesis
schesis

Reputation: 59148

From the docs:

It is generally not very useful to reload built-in or dynamically loaded modules. Reloading sys, __main__, builtins and other key modules is not recommended. In many cases extension modules are not designed to be initialized more than once, and may fail in arbitrary ways when reloaded.

Upvotes: 2

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