In Python 3, PEP 404 changes the way imports work from Python 2. Implicit relative imports are no longer allowed in packages and from ... import * imports are only allowed in module level code.
To achieve Python 3 behavior in Python 2:
- the absolute imports feature can be enabled with
from __future__ import absolute_import
- explicit relative imports are encouraged in place of implicit relative imports
For clarification, in Python 2, a module can import the contents of another module located in the same directory as follows:
Notice the location of foo is ambiguous from the import statement alone. This type of implicit relative import is thus discouraged in favor of explicit relative imports, which look like the following:
from .moduleY import spam
from .moduleY import spam as ham
from . import moduleY
from ..subpackage1 import moduleY
from ..subpackage2.moduleZ import eggs
from ..moduleA import foo
from ...package import bar
from ...sys import path
The dot . allows an explicit declaration of the module location within the directory tree.
More on Relative Imports
Consider some user defined package called shapes. The directory structure is as follows:
shapes
├── __init__.py
|
├── circle.py
|
├── square.py
|
└── triangle.py
circle.py, square.py and triangle.py all import util.py as a module. How will they refer to a module in the same level?
from . import util # use util.PI, util.sq(x), etc
OR
from .util import * #use PI, sq(x), etc to call functions
The . is used for same-level relative imports.
Now, consider an alternate layout of the shapes module:
shapes
├── __init__.py
|
├── circle
│ ├── __init__.py
│ └── circle.py
|
├── square
│ ├── __init__.py
│ └── square.py
|
├── triangle
│ ├── __init__.py
│ ├── triangle.py
|
└── util.py
Now, how will these 3 classes refer to util.py?
from .. import util # use util.PI, util.sq(x), etc
OR
from ..util import * # use PI, sq(x), etc to call functions
The .. is used for parent-level relative imports. Add more .s with number of levels between the parent and child.
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