Modules and Packages
Modules in Python are simply Python files with the .py extension, which implement a set of functions. Modules are imported from other modules using the import command.
To import a module, we use the import command. Check out the full list of built-in modules in the Python standard library here.
The first time a module is loaded into a running Python script, it is initialized by executing the code in the module once. If another module in your code imports the same module again, it will not be loaded twice but once only - so local variables inside the module act as a "singleton" - they are initialized only once.
If we want to import the module urllib, which enables us to create read data from URLs, we simply import the module:
# import the library
import urllib
# use it
urllib.urlopen(...)
Exploring built-in modules
Two very important functions come in handy when exploring modules in Python - the dir and help functions.
We can look for which functions are implemented in each module by using the dir function:
>>> import urllib
>>> dir(urllib)
['ContentTooShortError', 'FancyURLopener', 'MAXFTPCACHE', 'URLopener', '__all__', '__builtins__', '__doc__', '__file__', '__name__', '__package__', '__version__', '_ftperrors', '_get_proxies', '_get_proxy_settings', '_have_ssl', '_hexdig', '_hextochr', '_hostprog', '_is_unicode', '_localhost', '_noheaders', '_nportprog', '_passwdprog', '_portprog', '_queryprog', '_safe_map', '_safe_quoters', '_tagprog', '_thishost', '_typeprog', '_urlopener', '_userprog', '_valueprog', 'addbase', 'addclosehook', 'addinfo', 'addinfourl', 'always_safe', 'basejoin', 'c', 'ftpcache', 'ftperrors', 'ftpwrapper', 'getproxies', 'getproxies_environment', 'getproxies_macosx_sysconf', 'i', 'localhost', 'main', 'noheaders', 'os', 'pathname2url', 'proxy_bypass', 'proxy_bypass_environment', 'proxy_bypass_macosx_sysconf', 'quote', 'quote_plus', 'reporthook', 'socket', 'splitattr', 'splithost', 'splitnport', 'splitpasswd', 'splitport', 'splitquery', 'splittag', 'splittype', 'splituser', 'splitvalue', 'ssl', 'string', 'sys', 'test', 'test1', 'thishost', 'time', 'toBytes', 'unquote', 'unquote_plus', 'unwrap', 'url2pathname', 'urlcleanup', 'urlencode', 'urlopen', 'urlretrieve']
Writing modules
Writing Python modules is very simple. To create a module of your own, simply create a new .py file with the module name, and then import it using the Python file name (without the .py extension) using the import command.
Writing packages
Packages are namespaces which contain multiple packages and modules themselves. They are simply directories, but with a twist.
Each package in Python is a directory which MUST contain a special file called __init__.py. This file can be empty, and it indicates that the directory it contains is a Python package, so it can be imported the same way a module can be imported.
If we create a directory called foo, which marks the package name, we can then create a module inside that package called bar. We also must not forget to add the __init__.py file inside the foo directory.
To use the module bar, we can import it in two ways:
import foo.bar
#OR
from foo import bar
Previous
Modules in Python are simply Python files with the .py extension, which implement a set of functions. Modules are imported from other modules using the import command.
To import a module, we use the import command. Check out the full list of built-in modules in the Python standard library here.
The first time a module is loaded into a running Python script, it is initialized by executing the code in the module once. If another module in your code imports the same module again, it will not be loaded twice but once only - so local variables inside the module act as a "singleton" - they are initialized only once.
If we want to import the module urllib, which enables us to create read data from URLs, we simply import the module:
# import the library
import urllib
# use it
urllib.urlopen(...)
Exploring built-in modules
Two very important functions come in handy when exploring modules in Python - the dir and help functions.
We can look for which functions are implemented in each module by using the dir function:
>>> import urllib
>>> dir(urllib)
['ContentTooShortError', 'FancyURLopener', 'MAXFTPCACHE', 'URLopener', '__all__', '__builtins__', '__doc__', '__file__', '__name__', '__package__', '__version__', '_ftperrors', '_get_proxies', '_get_proxy_settings', '_have_ssl', '_hexdig', '_hextochr', '_hostprog', '_is_unicode', '_localhost', '_noheaders', '_nportprog', '_passwdprog', '_portprog', '_queryprog', '_safe_map', '_safe_quoters', '_tagprog', '_thishost', '_typeprog', '_urlopener', '_userprog', '_valueprog', 'addbase', 'addclosehook', 'addinfo', 'addinfourl', 'always_safe', 'basejoin', 'c', 'ftpcache', 'ftperrors', 'ftpwrapper', 'getproxies', 'getproxies_environment', 'getproxies_macosx_sysconf', 'i', 'localhost', 'main', 'noheaders', 'os', 'pathname2url', 'proxy_bypass', 'proxy_bypass_environment', 'proxy_bypass_macosx_sysconf', 'quote', 'quote_plus', 'reporthook', 'socket', 'splitattr', 'splithost', 'splitnport', 'splitpasswd', 'splitport', 'splitquery', 'splittag', 'splittype', 'splituser', 'splitvalue', 'ssl', 'string', 'sys', 'test', 'test1', 'thishost', 'time', 'toBytes', 'unquote', 'unquote_plus', 'unwrap', 'url2pathname', 'urlcleanup', 'urlencode', 'urlopen', 'urlretrieve']
Writing modules
Writing Python modules is very simple. To create a module of your own, simply create a new .py file with the module name, and then import it using the Python file name (without the .py extension) using the import command.
Writing packages
Packages are namespaces which contain multiple packages and modules themselves. They are simply directories, but with a twist.
Each package in Python is a directory which MUST contain a special file called __init__.py. This file can be empty, and it indicates that the directory it contains is a Python package, so it can be imported the same way a module can be imported.
If we create a directory called foo, which marks the package name, we can then create a module inside that package called bar. We also must not forget to add the __init__.py file inside the foo directory.
To use the module bar, we can import it in two ways:
import foo.bar
#OR
from foo import bar
Previous
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