Python Relative and Absolute Import

The PEP 328: Absolute and Relative Imports explans very detailed.

The absolute_import feature is default in Python 3.x. (I use Python 2.7.x)

Use the examples pep328 gives:

pkg
├── __init__.py
├── main.py
└── string.py

The content of string.py

#!/usr/bin/env python
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-

def say_hello():
	print "say hello"

The content of first version main.py:

#!/usr/bin/env python
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-

import string

string.say_hello()

# move to the parent dir of pkg
$ python -m pkg.main
say hello

This will use the relative string.py module, not the Python’s standard string module.

When use absolute_import:

From pep328:

Once absolute imports are the default, import string will always find the standard library’s version. It’s suggested that users should begin using absolute imports as much as possible, so it’s preferable to begin writing from pkg import string in your code.

from __future__ import absolute_import

#import string   # This is error because `import string` will use the standard string module
from pkg import string
string.say_hello()

Relative imports are still possible by adding a leading period to the module name when using the from ... import form:

from __future__ import absolute_import

from . import string # This is the same as `from pkg import string`
string.say_hello()

from __future__ import absolute_import

from .string import say_hello
say_hello()

Use print(string) to see which string module to import

2015-02-22 Supplement:

main.py:

#!/usr/bin/env python
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
from __future__ import absolute_import
import string
print(string)

string.say_hello()

If run code by:

cd pkg
$ python pkg/main.py
<module 'string' from '/path/to/my/pkg/string.pyc'>
say hello

It will always use local string.py, because current path is the first in sys.path

change main.py to:

#!/usr/bin/env python
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
from . import string
print(string)

string.say_hello()

run code:

cd pkg
$ python pkg/main.py
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "pkg/main.py", line 3, in <module>
    from . import string
ValueError: Attempted relative import in non-package

This answer is detailed:

To elaborate on @Ignacio’s answer: the python import mechanism works relative to the name of the current file. When you execute a file directly, it doesn’t have it’s usual name, but has “main” as its name instead. So relative imports don’t work. You can, as Igancio suggested, execute it using the -m option. If you have a part of your package that is mean to be run as a script, you can also use the package attribute to tell that file what name it’s supposed to have in the package hierarchy. See http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0366/ for details.

Absolute/Relative import is to package.

In Python 2.x(by now is Python 2.7.x), the default import feature is implicit relative import.

As above see, it will first import the same-named module under package. Use absolute import as default, Python will only import by the sys.path sequence.

And if you want to use relative import, you must use explicit relative import

That as list in import this:

Explicit is better than implicit

2015-08-25 Supplement:

前阵子写了一个功能脚本utils/redis.py, 封装了redis-py(import redis)实现一些功能检查:

TankyWoo % tree
.
├── main.py
└── utils
    ├── __init__.py
    └── redis.py

1 directory, 3 files

TankyWoo % more main.py
#!/usr/bin/env python
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
from utils import redis

if __name__ == '__main__':
    redis.func()

TankyWoo % more utils/redis.py
#!/usr/bin/env python
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
from __future__ import absolute_import
import redis

def func():
    print redis.Redis

if __name__ == '__main__':
    func()

这块在utils/redis.py里必须指定绝对导入, 否则就相当于导入自身了.

Ref: