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What exactly is the use of __init__.py? Yes, I know this file makes a directory into an importable package. However, consider the following example:

project/
   foo/
      __init__.py
      a.py
      bar/
         b.py

If I want to import a into b, I have to add following statement:

sys.path.append('/path_to_foo')
import foo.a

This will run successfully with or without __init__.py. However, if there is not an sys.path.append statement, a "no module" error will occur, with or without __init__.py. This makes it seem lik eonly the system path matters, and that __init__.py does not have any effect.

Why would this import work without __init__.py?

Stevoisiak
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Poplong
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    if you just do `import foo` python needs **something** to import, so it basically imports the `__init__` file of that folder. – Tadhg McDonald-Jensen Jun 22 '16 at 17:40
  • You need `__init__.py` to do `import foo.bar`. It will act similar to `__init__` method on a class. – freakish Jun 22 '16 at 17:40
  • also, the `__init__.py` **is required to make it work** if you try just deleting the file then it will use the compiled `__init__.pyc` file probably located in a `__pycache__` subfolder, if you delete that as well then you will see that it is necessary. – Tadhg McDonald-Jensen Jun 22 '16 at 17:43

4 Answers4

27

__init__.py has nothing to do with whether Python can find your package. You've run your code in such a way that your package isn't on the search path by default, but if you had run it differently or configured your PYTHONPATH differently, the sys.path.append would have been unnecessary.

__init__.py used to be necessary to create a package, and in most cases, you should still provide it. Since Python 3.3, though, a folder without an __init__.py can be considered part of an implicit namespace package, a feature for splitting a package across multiple directories.

During import processing, the import machinery will continue to iterate over each directory in the parent path as it does in Python 3.2. While looking for a module or package named "foo", for each directory in the parent path:

  • If <directory>/foo/__init__.py is found, a regular package is imported and returned.
  • If not, but <directory>/foo.{py,pyc,so,pyd} is found, a module is imported and returned. The exact list of extension varies by platform and whether the -O flag is specified. The list here is representative.
  • If not, but <directory>/foo is found and is a directory, it is recorded and the scan continues with the next directory in the parent path.
  • Otherwise the scan continues with the next directory in the parent path.

If the scan completes without returning a module or package, and at least one directory was recorded, then a namespace package is created.

user2357112
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    @TadhgMcDonald-Jensen: `__path__` gets built automatically. `__init__.py` isn't required for a namespace package, but a folder with an `__init__.py` will take priority over creation of a namespace package. – user2357112 Jun 22 '16 at 17:56
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    yes I realized that after reading further in the PEP, I added the relevant parts to your answer so other people don't have to search the document to find that part. – Tadhg McDonald-Jensen Jun 22 '16 at 18:08
2

If you really want to avoid __init__.py for some reason, you don't sys.path. Rather, create a module object and set its __path__ to a list of directories.

o11c
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1

if I want to import a into b, I have to add following statement:

No! You'd just say: import foo.a. All this is provided you run the entire package at once using python -m main.module where main.module is the entry point to your entire application. It imports all other modules, and the modules that import more modules will try to look for them from the root of this project. For instance, foo.bar.c will import as foo.bar.b

Then it seems that only the system path matters and init.py does not have any effect.

You need to modify sys.path only when you are importing modules from locations that are not in your project, or the places where python looks for libraries. __init__.py not only makes a folder look like a package, it also does a few more things like "export" objects to outside world (__all__)

UltraInstinct
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1

When you import something it has to either:

  1. Retrieve an already loaded module or
  2. Load the module that was imported

When you do import foo and python finds a folder called foo in a folder on your sys.path then it will look in that folder for an __init__.py to be considered the top level module.

(Note that if the package is not on your sys.path then you would need to append it's location to be able to import it.)

If that is not present it will look for a __init__.pyc version possibly in the __pycache__ folder, if that is also missing then that folder foo is not considered a loadable python package. If no other options for foo are found then an ImportError is raised.

If you try deleting the __init__.pyc file as well you will see that the the initializer script for a package is indeed necessary.

Tadhg McDonald-Jensen
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