Import File Using String As Name

Possible Duplicate: Dynamic module import in Python I intend to make a suite of files at some point soon, and the best way to organize it is to have a list, that list will be at

Solution 1:

Not sure if I understood everything correctly, but you can import a module dynamically using __import__:

mod = __import__(testName)
mod.HelloWorld()

Edit: I wasn't aware that the use of __import__ was discouraged by the python docs for user code: __import__ documentation (as noted by Bakuriu)

This should also work and would be considered better style:

importimportlibmod= importlib.import_module(testName)
mod.HelloWorld()

Solution 2:

1. Never, ever, ever mess with sys.modules directly if you don't know exactly what you are doing.
2. There are a lot of ways to do what you want:
   1. The build-in __import__ function
   2. Using imp.load_module
   3. Using importlib.import_module

I'd avoid using __import__ directly, and go for importlib.import_module(which is also suggested at the end of the documentation of __import__).

Solution 3:

Add the path where module resides to sys.path. Import the module using __import__ function which accepts a string variable as module name.

import sys
sys.path.insert(0, mypath)  # mypath = path of module to be imported
imported_module = __import__("string_module_name") # __import__ accepts string 
imported_module.myfunction()   # All symbols in mymodule are now available normally