Import a Python Module from a GitHub Gist

Question

I like the idea of GitHub Gists. That's where I, and many others, keep their tiny but handy Python modules. It would be nice to be able to directly import them to Python. Something like this:

import gist(url) as myModule

Is this possible? Is the only way just to extract the text from the gist and run eval on it?

See https://stackoverflow.com/questions/28300915/how-can-a-python-module-be-imported-from-a-url — Graham Dumpleton, Sep 12 '18 at 00:59
That's basically running eval on the downloaded text. Not sure if it's the best way. — Miladiouss, Sep 12 '18 at 01:10
It is a bit outside the scope of your question, but [codeskulptor](https://py3.codeskulptor.org/) allows to import modules stored. — Reblochon Masque, Sep 12 '18 at 02:38

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 12 '18 at 01:29

Possible solution would be to download the gist from the url using requests. Then take the file name and import it using import example_file. You could also use a for loop to import all modules found within a directory.

Example for downloading files using requests - https://stackoverflow.com/a/16696317/8625593
Example for iteratively importing modules - https://www.tutorialspoint.com/Can-we-iteratively-import-python-modules-inside-a-for-loop

I highly recommend not using eval() as when used with user input, can be used maliciously.

Import a Python Module from a GitHub Gist

1 Answers1