Alex Rivera | Logout

Expand Python Search Path to Other Source

Asked 2010-06-29T19:37:43.333
154

I have just joined a project with a rather large existing code base. We develop in linux and do not use and IDE. We run through the command line. I'm trying to figure out how to get python to search for the right path when I run project modules. For instance, when I run something like:

python someprojectfile.py

I get

ImportError: no module named core.'somemodule'

I get this for all of my imports to I assume it's an issue with the path.

How do I get Python to search ~/codez/project/ and all the files and folders for *.py files during import statements?

python search import path
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18

You should also read about python packages here: http://docs.python.org/tutorial/modules.html.

From your example, I would guess that you really have a package at ~/codez/project. The file __init__.py in a python directory maps a directory into a namespace. If your subdirectories all have an __init__.py file, then you only need to add the base directory to your PYTHONPATH. For example:

PYTHONPATH=$PYTHONPATH:$HOME/adaifotis/project

In addition to testing your PYTHONPATH environment variable, as David explains, you can test it in python like this:

$ python
>>> import project                      # should work if PYTHONPATH set
>>> import sys
>>> for line in sys.path: print line    # print current python path

...

answered 2010-07-05T05:08:21.413

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