Import a file from a subdirectory?

python module subdirectory python-import

Adam Matan · Aug 11, 2009 · Viewed 525.7k times · Source

I have a file called tester.py, located on /project.

/project has a subdirectory called lib, with a file called BoxTime.py:

/project/tester.py
/project/lib/BoxTime.py

I want to import BoxTime from tester. I have tried this:

import lib.BoxTime

Which resulted:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "./tester.py", line 3, in <module>
    import lib.BoxTime
ImportError: No module named lib.BoxTime

Any ideas how to import BoxTime from the subdirectory?

EDIT

The __init__.py was the problem, but don't forget to refer to BoxTime as lib.BoxTime, or use:

import lib.BoxTime as BT
...
BT.bt_function()

Answer

Take a look at the Packages documentation (Section 6.4) here: http://docs.python.org/tutorial/modules.html

In short, you need to put a blank file named

__init__.py

in the "lib" directory.