python import not working

Question

I have three files in total in python 2.7:

1. A module file in some directory (e.g. module1.py)
2. A different module in the same directory, which imports this module (e.g. worker.py)
3. A main script in the top-level directory importing worker.py

When the file worker.py looks as the following

import module1 as mod

everything works as expected (i.e. I can use worker.mod.XXX in my main code). But when I replace the content of worker.py as follows (which I expected to do the same):

mod = __import__('module1')

I get an error: ImportError: No module named module1. I need the latter way to handle things to automate importing modules from a list.

What am I missing here?

To be more precise: I am just looking for a way to replace the statement import module1 as mod by an expression in which module1 is a string. I have e.g. modulname='module1', and want to import the module with the name of the module given in the string modulname. How to do that?

• Zaur Nasibov: I believe there should be another factor, because __import__() is directly invoked by the import statement.
• Alex: What factor do you mean?
• Zaur Nasibov: Well, for example does this error appears ONLY when you change this particular line of code (and absolutely everything else, including how the program is launched is the same)?
• Alex: Yes. I only try to import the same module in a different way, everything else is the same.

Answer 1

__import__(name, globals={}, locals={}, fromlist=[], level=-1) -> module

Import a module. Because this function is meant for use by the Python interpreter and not for general use it is better to use importlib.import_module() to programmatically import a module.

The globals argument is only used to determine the context; they are not modified. The locals argument is unused. The fromlist should be a list of names to emulate from name import ..., or an empty list to emulate import name. When importing a module from a package, note that __import__('A.B', ...) returns package A when fromlist is empty, but its submodule B when fromlist is not empty. Level is used to determine whether to perform absolute or relative imports. -1 is the original strategy of attempting both absolute and relative imports, 0 is absolute, a positive number is the number of parent directories to search relative to the current module.

• Alex: I tried to use importlib, but importlib.import_module('module1') gives the same error.
• Denis: OK, how to place module which you want to import against place where you do import?
• Alex: First, I do not understand your comment. Secondly, I am just looking for a way to replace import module1 as mod by an expression in which module1 is used as string. I have e.g. modulname='module1', and now I want to import the module with the name as defined in the string modulname. How to do that?
• Denis: At first try to understand how MRO working in Python. This is a really ordinary theme which discussed here many times. Read this stackoverflow.com/questions/10287054/…
• Denis: Man, this is helpful, if you do not understand the basics nobody can't help you.

Answer 2

try this:

mod = __import__('module1', globals=globals())

• Alex: Thank you so much!! This solves my problems with a concrete example.