What does Python's file actually do?

Question

I've always assumed that the __file__ variable always gave you the current file name, but that doesn't seem to be exactly what it does. Since I've been facing a bug if I assume this to be true.

Someone told me "that __file__ refers to the last module searched" And this seems to be more accurate, but I'd like to know what __file__ is really supposed to do.

I couldn't find anything concrete mentioned in the Python docs. A lot places seem to mention it, but aren't very clear about it.

http://docs.python.org/2/c-api/import.html?highlight=__file__

http://docs.python.org/2/c-api/module.html?highlight=__file__

This might help: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7116889/python-file-attribute-absolute-or-relative — Justin Ethier, Jul 02 '13 at 14:55
*Someone told me "that `__file__` refers to the last module searched"* That someone was wrong, I'm afraid. — Martijn Pieters, Jul 02 '13 at 14:56
@MartijnPieters Ha, well I was just using it as an example of how unclear I was about `__file__` — ffledgling, Jul 02 '13 at 15:08

score 4 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 02 '13 at 17:07

 __file__ is the pathname of the file from which the module was loaded, if it was loaded from a file. The __file__ attribute is not present
 for C modules that are statically linked into the interpreter; for
 extension modules loaded dynamically from a shared library, it is the
 pathname of the shared library file.

from here: http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2010-February/097461.html

What does Python's __file__ actually do?

1 Answers1

What does Python's file actually do?