Python: A complete list of modules

Question

How do I get a list of all python modules available?

I don't want modules of modules. Just a basic list of all modules available in sys.path.

help('modules') is not the solution, because I want it available as a variable and it imports those modules, which has side effects.

Edit: With side effects I mean libraries like kivy of http://kivy.org/, which make use of the fact, that code is executed once you import it.

I don't see how this is a duplicate question, since `pkgutil` wasn't even mentioned in the other thread and there's a clear limitation here: **No side effects!** — Dave Halter, Dec 19 '15 at 13:21

score 8 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 02 '12 at 14:26

8

pkgutil - Utilities to support packages

this will yield a tuple for all submodules on sys.path:

pkgutil.iter_modules()

to see what's loaded, look at:

sys.modules

"This is a dictionary that maps module names to modules which have already been loaded"

a list of loaded modules:

sys.modules.keys()

edited Apr 02 '12 at 14:26

jsbueno

answered Mar 30 '12 at 17:58

Corey Goldberg

1

"which have already been loaded". OP wants all loadable modules. – liori Mar 30 '12 at 18:06
1

@jsbueno. how does pkgutil *not* answer this? afaict, it gives what he asks: "list of all modules available in sys.path". – Corey Goldberg Mar 30 '12 at 18:44
1

@jsbueno pkgutil.iter_modules() "Yields (module_loader, name, ispkg) for all submodules on path, or, if path is None, all top-level modules on sys.path." That is what he asked. – Corey Goldberg Mar 30 '12 at 22:31
@CoreyGoldberg: I stand corrected. Sorry for the annoyance. – jsbueno Apr 02 '12 at 14:26
i think executing `pkgutil.iter_modules()` loads all modules to memory. – Ciasto piekarz Oct 27 '13 at 16:17

jsbueno · Answer 2 · 2012-03-30T18:23:53.990

5

Use the external script "pydoc" that comes along with a Python install: from the command shell, type:

$ pydoc modules

Pydoc can be used from within Python as well, one way of having it walk everything available is:

all_mod = []
pydoc.ModuleScanner().run(callback=(lambda *a: all_mod.append(a[1])), onerror=lambda *a:None)
print all_mod

edited Mar 30 '12 at 18:23

answered Mar 30 '12 at 18:14

jsbueno

A good idea, but it imports those modules (can have side effects if you have things like `kivy` installed. – Dave Halter Mar 30 '12 at 19:18
What pydoc does is manually check for all available files and then import them - if you don't want the import part, I think you will have to look at pydoc code and copy from it to see all available modules (including those in zip files and eggs). – jsbueno Mar 30 '12 at 20:27

2 Answers2