Why does my python not add current working directory to the path?

python python-import
trinth picture trinth · Jun 20, 2011 · Viewed 19.5k times · Source

I keep seeing sites mentioning that the directory that you execute 'python ' get added to the python path. For example on http://www.stereoplex.com/blog/understanding-imports-and-pythonpath, the author cd's to the /tmp folder then does 'print(sys.path)' and lo and behold, the /tmp folder appears in the path list. Here is me trying this out on my system (with 2.6.6 installed):

example structure: 

app/
  mymodule.py
  inner_folder/
    myscript.py

in myscript.py contains the line: 

import mymodule.py

what I did:

cd app
python inner_folder/myscript.py # ImportError

Since I am executing the interpreter from the app/ directory, shouldn't 'app' be added to the python path? This is how a lot of the docs I have been reading have specified the behaviour should be.

Please enlighten!

(I have temporarily solved this by manually adding the folder I want into the environment but don't want to rely on that forever. Since many sites say this can be done, I'd like to reproduce it for myself)

Answer

Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams picture Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams · Jun 20, 2011

It is the script's directory that is added, not the current directory. If you turn inner_folder/ into a package then you can use python -m inner_folder.myscript in order to run the script while having app/ added to sys.path.

Related questions

How to import other Python files?

How do I import other files in Python? How exactly can I import a specific python file like import file.py? How can I import a folder instead of a specific file? I want to load a Python file dynamically …

Read More
Importing files from different folder

I have the following folder structure. application ├── app │   └── folder │   └── file.py └── app2 └── some_folder └── some_file.py I want to import some functions from file.py in some_file.py. I've tried from application.app.folder.file import func_name …

Read More
Python error "ImportError: No module named"

Python is installed in a local directory. My directory tree looks like this: (local directory)/site-packages/toolkit/interface.py My code is in here: (local directory)/site-packages/toolkit/examples/mountain.py To run the example, I write python mountain.py, …

Read More