run script inside a script by python

Question

Being a regular R user, I organize my script in a way that script will be run into a master script, say script.R

source("01_step_one.R")
source("02_step_two.R")

Learning python now, wonder if I can do similar in Python, I know the import command to import the function from one script to another, but how about source?

• Justin L.: I believe the more idiomatic python would be to import functions and call. I could be wrong. But if that's the case, then really in general it's a good idea when using a language to not go against the flow/design/intent of it, because everything in a language design is really meant to fit together as a cohesive whole and by rejecting an aspect of the design, you risk missing out on the advantages of using the language in the first place :)
• lokheart: @Justin, I am thinking of "spliting" script into small parts as it helps to organize my thought and easier to debug, as I can use traceback to see which part of the script is having an issue. Of course I can skip the "spliting" and do my coding within one big py file, but it seems unorganized sometimes to me.

Answer 1

Source call is good with simple intepreting languages, python has namespaces and imports, so why not use it. A good practice is to use such a scheme:

# example.py
def main():
 main logic here...
if __name__ == "__main__":
 main()

This allows you to run the script from a command line (the if name part), or just import the script in another script and run main(), i.e.

 import example
 example.main()