CODEWITHSUNDEEP
pythonpython-3.x
Lewis
Lewis

Reputation: 244

Importing the PIL (Pillow) module in Python

Why am I able to do this in Python 3.7:

from PIL import Image
im = Image.open("hardcastle-crags-3462894.jpg")

But not this, which I had understood to be the same thing:

import PIL
im = PIL.Image.open("hardcastle-crags-3462894.jpg")

The latter gives result:

AttributeError: module 'PIL' has no attribute 'Image'

I had understood these to be the same thing. Why does one work and the other does not?

Upvotes: 5

Views: 10930

Answers (1)

Lewis
Lewis

Reputation: 244

To answer my own question (now that I understand properly).

In Python, you can import:

  1. modules - single files e.g. something.py; or
  2. packages - directories containing one or more .py files, and always one file called __init__.py which designates the directory as a package

In this case, the statement:

import PIL

Is really the same as saying "import the __init__.py file in the PIL directory". In this specific case, that __init__.py file does not import or otherwise make available any class or other module called "Image", so my subsequent reference to it in example 2 in my initial post import fails.

In contrast, the statement:

from PIL import Image

is interpreted a bit differently. This is really the same as saying "look in the package directory PIL for a module called Image and import it".

So you can see that the import statement is actually a bit context dependent. It can mean different things in different circumstances.

This is an excellent resource that explains the different ways in which the import statement can function depending on context.

Upvotes: 7

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