What's the difference between `from django.conf import settings` and `import settings` in a Django project

python django django-settings
tzenderman picture tzenderman · Nov 14, 2013 · Viewed 60.7k times · Source

I'm reading up that most people do from django.conf import settings but I don't undertstand the difference to simply doing import settings in a django project file. Can anyone explain the difference?

Answer

juliocesar picture juliocesar · Nov 14, 2013

import settings will import the first python module named settings.py found in sys.path. Usually (in default django setups) it allows access only to your site defined settings file, which overwrites django default settings (django.conf.global_settings).

So, if you try to access a valid django setting not specified in your settings file you will get an error.

django.conf.settings is not a file but a class making an abstraction of the concepts, default settings and your site-specific settings. Django also does other checks when you use from django.conf import settings.

You can also find it in the django docs.

Hope this helps.

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