How to Import from parent directory Python-CodePudding

I am trying to import a file from the main directory using python. I tried several methods but no luck :(.

My file directory

|_ api
    |__init__.py
    |_api1.py
    |_api2.py
    |_api3.py
    |_api4.py
    |_api5.py
    |_api6.py
|__init__.py
|_api.py
|_db_ops.py

Challenge

I am trying to import some methods of api.py into api1.py and api2.py.

The solutions I have found were:

1. Add __ini__.py file
   I have added them as you can see but did not work.

2. import using `import api`
   did not worked rather throws an error **ModuleNotFoundError**

3. import using 'from . import api'
   throws an error "cannot import from unknown module"

4. even tried to create a parent folder **test** and then tried with import test.apicall  but still did not worked!

Any help.

Thanks

CodePudding user response：

first of all, the file name is __init__.py and not __ini__.py. by default, you only can import directory from the same level or below where you are using the python command. example:

myproject/
  project/
    __init__.py
    foo.py
  bar.py

if the terminal in myproject and i run python project/foo.py, foo can import bar.py , but if i am myproject/project and i run python foo.py, foo cannot import bar.py

to change the default you can use

import sys
sys.path.append('path of my dir')

CodePudding user response：

It depends on what you want to do. If you want to run a script in a lower-level folder, Python will not let you do it. On the other hand, let's say for simplicity you have the folder structure

mypackage/
   subpackage/
      __init__.py
      api1.py
   __init__.py
   api.py

If api.py looks like the following

def foo(a):
    print(a)

then in api1.py you can have a relative import like

from ..api import foo as f

Then you can't, however, run api1.py as a script, but you can use f as a function to extend things in api1.py or write a script with the content

from mypackage.subpackage.api1 import f

so in that case, it will look like the function foo was in api1.py.

I'll note that this was heavily inspired by the Python-documentation on relative imports... (https://docs.python.org/3/reference/import.html)