How to do multiple imports in Python?

Question

In Ruby, instead of repeating the "require" (the "import" in Python) word lots of times, I do

%w{lib1 lib2 lib3 lib4 lib5}.each { |x| require x }

So it iterates over the set of "libs" and "require" (import) each one of them. Now I'm writing a Python script and I would like to do something like that. Is there a way to, or do I need to write "import" for all of them.

The straight-forward "traduction" would be something like the following code. Anyway, since Python does not import libs named as strings, it does not work.

requirements = [lib1, lib2, lib3, lib4, lib5]
for lib in requirements:
    import lib

Python actually does have a built-in function [`__import__`](http://docs.python.org/library/functions.html#__import__) which you can use to import a module named in a string. But it's meant to be called from the implementation of the `import` statement, not from user code. It certainly wouldn't be the proper solution in this case. — David Z, Jul 15 '10 at 22:38
Oh! Really thanks for all the answers. Very good all of them. — Eduardo, Jul 15 '10 at 22:59

score 73 · Accepted Answer · edited Aug 27 '17 at 12:55

73

For known module, just separate them by commas:

import lib1, lib2, lib3, lib4, lib5

If you really need to programmatically import based on dynamic variables, a literal translation of your ruby would be:

modnames = "lib1 lib2 lib3 lib4 lib5".split()
for lib in modnames:
    globals()[lib] = __import__(lib)

Though there's no need for this in your example.

edited Aug 27 '17 at 12:55

MSeifert

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answered Jul 15 '10 at 22:39

Brian

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1

Please note that the first code snippet defies Pep 8's recommendations https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0008/#imports – Minion Jim Jul 11 '19 at 10:20

score 32 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 15 '10 at 22:35

32

Try this:

import lib1, lib2, lib3, lib4, lib5

You can also change the name they are imported under in this way, like so:

import lib1 as l1, lib2 as l2, lib3, lib4 as l4, lib5

answered Jul 15 '10 at 22:35

John Howard

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score 16 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 16 '20 at 16:54

16

if you want multi-line:

from englishapps.multiple.mainfile import (
    create_multiple_,
    get_data_for_multiple
)

answered Dec 16 '20 at 16:54

Edgar Manukyan

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score 10 · Answer 4 · answered Jul 15 '10 at 22:31

10

import lib1, lib2, lib3, lib4, lib5

answered Jul 15 '10 at 22:31

ykaganovich

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score 5 · Answer 5 · answered Sep 28 '21 at 17:21

5

I just learned from a coworker today that, according to the PEP 8 Style Guide, imports in Python should actually be written on separate lines:

import os
import sys

The style guide calls import sys, os wrong.

answered Sep 28 '21 at 17:21

Dan Swain

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score 4 · Answer 6 · edited Aug 27 '17 at 12:45

4

You can import from a string which contains your module name by using the __import__ function.

requirements = [lib1, lib2, lib3, lib4, lib5]
for lib in requirements:
    x = __import__(lib)

edited Aug 27 '17 at 12:45

MSeifert

145,886
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answered Jul 15 '10 at 22:36

txwikinger

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score 3 · Answer 7 · answered Aug 27 '17 at 12:54

You can use __import__ if you have a list of strings that represent modules, but it's probably cleaner if you follow the hint in the documentation and use importlib.import_module directly:

import importlib
requirements = [lib1, lib2, lib3, lib4, lib5]
imported_libs = {lib: importlib.import_module(lib) for lib in requirements}

You don't have the imported libraries as variables available this way but you could access them through the imported_libs dictionary:

>>> requirements = ['sys', 'itertools', 'collections', 'pickle']
>>> imported_libs = {lib: importlib.import_module(lib) for lib in requirements}
>>> imported_libs
{'collections': <module 'collections' from 'lib\\collections\\__init__.py'>,
 'itertools': <module 'itertools' (built-in)>,
 'pickle': <module 'pickle' from 'lib\\pickle.py'>,
 'sys': <module 'sys' (built-in)>}

>>> imported_libs['sys'].hexversion
50660592

You could also update your globals and then use them like they were imported "normally":

>>> globals().update(imported_libs)
>>> sys
<module 'sys' (built-in)>

score -1 · Answer 8 · answered May 31 '23 at 21:23

Yes, you can import a list of libraries from a txt file in Python. It is very simple.

Example: If we have a text file libraries.txt content:

import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import rasterio

Here is some sample code that demonstrates how to import a list of libraries from a txt file containing import statements:

with open('libraries.txt', 'r') as f:
    lines = f.readlines()

for line in lines:
    exec(line)

How to do multiple imports in Python?

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