Importing a different python file in a different subdirectory?

Question

Say I have this "running" python file located in:

C:\folder\subfolder_first\running.py

And I have a "helper" python file located in: C:\folder\subfolder_second\helper.py

I am using Pycharm and I want to run some of the functions/methods of the helper file in the running file. How do I do it?

from folder.subfolder_second import helper

I tried the above line, but it gives me the error message: ImportError: No module named blah blah blah...

Possible duplicate of [What is \_\_init\_\_.py for?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/448271/what-is-init-py-for) — idjaw, Jun 16 '17 at 23:13
Look at that duplicate. There is a link in there to the tutorial about Packages. Here it is too: https://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/modules.html#packages — idjaw, Jun 16 '17 at 23:14
Ultimately, you need to pretty much place an `__init__.py` in the folder you want to make discoverable as a package to be able to import it. The material I provided will explain this well. — idjaw, Jun 16 '17 at 23:15
This answer would help you: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4383571/importing-files-from-different-folder-in-python — anon, Jun 16 '17 at 23:19
@anon That's a completely different problem. That is misleading for this issue. — idjaw, Jun 16 '17 at 23:21

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 16 '17 at 23:32

For Python 3 only

In order to get this to work youll need a file tree like this:

- folder
    __init__.py
    - subfolder_first
        running.py
        __init__.py
    - subfolder_second
        helper.py
        __init__.py

And then you would run helper from running.py like this:

from ..subfoler_second import helper

However, I would suggest structuring it like this instead:

- folder
    running.py
    - helpers
        my_helper.py
        __init__.py

Then import my_helper from running.py like:

from helpers import my_helper

The second way is much much better. Just do it like that.

1 Answers1