<!DOCTYPE html> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <head> <meta charset="utf-8" /> <title>31.2. importlib — Convenience wrappers for __import__() — Python 2.7.18 documentation</title> <link rel="stylesheet" href="../_static/classic.css" type="text/css" /> <link rel="stylesheet" href="../_static/pygments.css" type="text/css" /> <script type="text/javascript" id="documentation_options" data-url_root="../" src="../_static/documentation_options.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="../_static/jquery.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="../_static/underscore.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="../_static/doctools.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="../_static/language_data.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="../_static/sidebar.js"></script> <link rel="search" type="application/opensearchdescription+xml" title="Search within Python 2.7.18 documentation" href="../_static/opensearch.xml"/> <link rel="author" title="About these documents" href="../about.html" /> <link rel="index" title="Index" href="../genindex.html" /> <link rel="search" title="Search" href="../search.html" /> <link rel="copyright" title="Copyright" href="../copyright.html" /> <link rel="next" title="31.3. imputil — Import utilities" href="imputil.html" /> <link rel="prev" title="31.1. imp — Access the import internals" href="imp.html" /> <link rel="shortcut icon" type="image/png" href="../_static/py.png" /> <link rel="canonical" href="https://docs.python.org/2/library/importlib.html" /> <script type="text/javascript" src="../_static/copybutton.js"></script> </head><body> <div id="outdated-warning" style="padding: .5em; text-align: center; background-color: #FFBABA; color: #6A0E0E;"> This document is for an old version of Python that is <a href="https://devguide.python.org/devcycle/#end-of-life-branches">no longer supported</a>. You should upgrade and read the <a href="https://docs.python.org/3/library/importlib.html"> Python documentation for the current stable release</a>. </div> <div class="related" role="navigation" aria-label="related navigation"> <h3>Navigation</h3> <ul> <li class="right" style="margin-right: 10px"> <a href="../genindex.html" title="General Index" accesskey="I">index</a></li> <li class="right" > <a href="../py-modindex.html" title="Python Module Index" >modules</a> |</li> <li class="right" > <a href="imputil.html" title="31.3. imputil — Import utilities" accesskey="N">next</a> |</li> <li class="right" > <a href="imp.html" title="31.1. imp — Access the import internals" accesskey="P">previous</a> |</li> <li><img src="../_static/py.png" alt="" style="vertical-align: middle; margin-top: -1px"/></li> <li><a href="https://www.python.org/">Python</a> »</li> <li> <a href="../index.html">Python 2.7.18 documentation</a> » </li> <li class="nav-item nav-item-1"><a href="index.html" >The Python Standard Library</a> »</li> <li class="nav-item nav-item-2"><a href="modules.html" accesskey="U"><span class="section-number">31. </span>Importing Modules</a> »</li> </ul> </div> <div class="document"> <div class="documentwrapper"> <div class="bodywrapper"> <div class="body" role="main"> <div class="section" id="module-importlib"> <span id="importlib-convenience-wrappers-for-import"></span><h1><span class="section-number">31.2. </span><a class="reference internal" href="#module-importlib" title="importlib: Convenience wrappers for __import__"><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">importlib</span></code></a> — Convenience wrappers for <a class="reference internal" href="functions.html#__import__" title="__import__"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">__import__()</span></code></a><a class="headerlink" href="#module-importlib" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h1> <div class="versionadded"> <p><span class="versionmodified added">New in version 2.7.</span></p> </div> <p>This module is a minor subset of what is available in the more full-featured package of the same name from Python 3.1 that provides a complete implementation of <a class="reference internal" href="../reference/simple_stmts.html#import"><code class="xref std std-keyword docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">import</span></code></a>. What is here has been provided to help ease in transitioning from 2.7 to 3.1.</p> <dl class="function"> <dt id="importlib.import_module"> <code class="sig-prename descclassname">importlib.</code><code class="sig-name descname">import_module</code><span class="sig-paren">(</span><em class="sig-param">name</em>, <em class="sig-param">package=None</em><span class="sig-paren">)</span><a class="headerlink" href="#importlib.import_module" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>Import a module. The <em>name</em> argument specifies what module to import in absolute or relative terms (e.g. either <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">pkg.mod</span></code> or <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">..mod</span></code>). If the name is specified in relative terms, then the <em>package</em> argument must be specified to the package which is to act as the anchor for resolving the package name (e.g. <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">import_module('..mod',</span> <span class="pre">'pkg.subpkg')</span></code> will import <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">pkg.mod</span></code>). The specified module will be inserted into <a class="reference internal" href="sys.html#sys.modules" title="sys.modules"><code class="xref py py-data docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">sys.modules</span></code></a> and returned.</p> </dd></dl> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="sphinxsidebar" role="navigation" aria-label="main navigation"> <div class="sphinxsidebarwrapper"> <h4>Previous topic</h4> <p class="topless"><a href="imp.html" title="previous chapter"><span class="section-number">31.1. </span><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">imp</span></code> — Access the <code class="xref std std-keyword docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">import</span></code> internals</a></p> <h4>Next topic</h4> <p class="topless"><a href="imputil.html" title="next chapter"><span class="section-number">31.3. </span><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">imputil</span></code> — Import utilities</a></p> <div role="note" aria-label="source link"> <h3>This Page</h3> <ul class="this-page-menu"> <li><a href="../_sources/library/importlib.rst.txt" rel="nofollow">Show Source</a></li> </ul> </div> <div id="searchbox" style="display: none" role="search"> <h3 id="searchlabel">Quick search</h3> <div class="searchformwrapper"> <form class="search" action="../search.html" method="get"> <input type="text" name="q" aria-labelledby="searchlabel" /> <input type="submit" value="Go" /> </form> </div> </div> <script type="text/javascript">$('#searchbox').show(0);</script> </div> </div> <div class="clearer"></div> </div> <div class="related" role="navigation" aria-label="related navigation"> <h3>Navigation</h3> <ul> <li class="right" style="margin-right: 10px"> <a href="../genindex.html" title="General Index" >index</a></li> <li class="right" > <a href="../py-modindex.html" title="Python Module Index" >modules</a> |</li> <li class="right" > <a href="imputil.html" title="31.3. imputil — Import utilities" >next</a> |</li> <li class="right" > <a href="imp.html" title="31.1. imp — Access the import internals" >previous</a> |</li> <li><img src="../_static/py.png" alt="" style="vertical-align: middle; margin-top: -1px"/></li> <li><a href="https://www.python.org/">Python</a> »</li> <li> <a href="../index.html">Python 2.7.18 documentation</a> » </li> <li class="nav-item nav-item-1"><a href="index.html" >The Python Standard Library</a> »</li> <li class="nav-item nav-item-2"><a href="modules.html" ><span class="section-number">31. </span>Importing Modules</a> »</li> </ul> </div> <div class="footer"> © <a href="../copyright.html">Copyright</a> 1990-2020, Python Software Foundation. <br /> The Python Software Foundation is a non-profit corporation. <a href="https://www.python.org/psf/donations/">Please donate.</a> <br /> Last updated on Apr 19, 2020. <a href="../bugs.html">Found a bug</a>? <br /> Created using <a href="http://sphinx.pocoo.org/">Sphinx</a> 2.3.1. </div> </body> </html>