Python: Write function in module to import packages

Question

I am trying to write a function, which is itself loaded, to quickly import a bunch of modules globally.

I thought that, essentially, loaded modules could be treated as variables so I tried:

def loadMods(): global np import numpy as np

and when I loaded numpy (calling np) there was no problem.

What I then did was to create a separate .py file called loadTest containing

# loadTest module # coding: utf-8 def loadMod(): global np import numpy as np

Then attempted to import numpy using this .py file in python (2.7):

import loadTest loadTest.loadMod()

but now when attempting calling np I get

File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module> NameError: name 'np' is not defined

Why does this occur? Any help or alternative ways of doing this would be much appreciated. Thanks a bunch :)

All you've done is to make np available inside your loadTest module, which doesn't really help at all. — Daniel Roseman
– Daniel Roseman, Commented Feb 21, 2015 at 19:55
Thats kind of what I was expecting. Thanks for the clarification :) — user3235916
– user3235916, Commented Feb 21, 2015 at 19:58

user2555451 · Accepted Answer · 2015-02-21 19:55:52Z

Instead of making a function to do this, why not make another module? You could name it something like modules.py and put all of your imports in there:

import numpy as np import os import sys ...

Then, all you need to do is a wildcard import:

from modules import *

and everything will be made available.

ForceBru · Accepted Answer · 2015-02-21 19:55:55Z

-1

You must first define np like that.

In loadTest:

np=None

In somewhere other

import loadTest loadTest.loadMod() np=loadTest.np

answered Feb 21, 2015 at 19:55

ForceBru

45k10 gold badges71 silver badges104 bronze badges

1 Comment

Blckknght Over a year ago

This won't work. Each module's global namespace is separate, and so the global statement in loadMod will only ever write the np name in its own module.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Python: Write function in module to import packages

2 Answers 2

Comments

1 Comment

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

Comments

1 Comment

Related