Import specific part of a relative submodule in Python

Question

With a project structure like the following:

myproject/
 |--- __init__.py
 |--- application.py
 |--- modules/
       |--- __init__.py
       |--- parser.py
 |--- utils/
       |-- __init__.py
       |-- helpers.py

In utils/helpers.py:

def find_stuff():
    return stuff

def help_me():
    return some_help

In modules/parser.py, I want to import find_stuff (and only that).

I've tried the following:

from ..utils.helpers import find_stuff

But...

ImportError: cannot import name 'find_stuff' from 'myproject.utils.helpers' (/Users/myself/myproject/utils/helpers.py)

What should be done here?

Notes:

everything was working fine with the whole project's policy of absolute import, until I started using Pytest, and then all hell broke loose
no, I don't want to from ..utils import helpers and then use helpers.find_stuff in parser.py — I assume that Python's import system is well-thought enough so that we can precisely avoid that
in the error message, we can see that Python manages to find the correct file, however for some reason it just won't import the function/class/object name, despite it being present in the file

I have duplicated the project from your question in PyCharm and it works for me. — quamrana, Apr 08 '19 at 14:45
@quamrana yes actually it works — the real case is that I have circular dependencies, and Python is quite terrible at managing them... — Jivan, Apr 08 '19 at 14:46
Well, you didn't specify that in your question. Don't have circular dependencies! — quamrana, Apr 08 '19 at 14:48
Seems that Python is making them more of a problem that they actually should be... — Jivan, Apr 08 '19 at 14:51

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 08 '19 at 14:23

3

Under utils you do not have an __init__.py file. I think you will need one and even an empty one will do the trick.

answered Apr 08 '19 at 14:23

Hoog

2,280
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20

Sorry, that was a mistake — the init file is actually there, see my edit – Jivan Apr 08 '19 at 14:25

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 08 '19 at 15:04

2

Did you read this issue already? It depends on what you want to do. If you're writing something that is purely a module

from myproject.utils.helpers import find_stuff

should work.

answered Apr 08 '19 at 15:04

Bloodmallet

414
4
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Import specific part of a relative submodule in Python

2 Answers2