Unable to import Python file from another folder

Question

I have a repo that looks like this

dev ---> common ---> utils.py
    ---> scripts --> upload_to_blob.py

It gives following error when I try to import utils from common

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "scheduled_scripts/upload_to_blob.py", line 6, in <module>
    from common import utils
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'common'

I am using Python 3.6 env in Anaconda with base Python 2.7

Answer 1

By default, you cannot. When importing a file, Python only searches the current directory, the directory the entry point script runs from, and sys.path which includes locations like the package installation directory (it's actually a little more complicated than that, but that covers most cases).

However, you can add to the Python path at runtime:

# some_file.py
import sys
# insert at 1, 0 is the script path (or '' in REPL)
sys.path.insert(1, 'scheduled_scripts/upload_to_blob.py')

import file

Answer 2

Have __init__.py files in your directories and you can access the other files.

dev -
    |- common 
    |     |- utils.py
    |     |- __init__.py
    |- scripts
    |     |- upload_to_blob.py
    |     |- __init__.py
    |- __init__.py

if you want to include from the file, you can use like below

from common.utils import *