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Python, absolute/relative import not working as expected

I apologize for the millionth post about this topic.
I thought I had a good grip of the whole absolute/relative import mechanism - I even replied to a couple of questions about it myself - but I'm having a problem with it and I can't figure out how to solve it.
I'm using Python 3.8.0, this is my directory structure:
project_folder
scripts/
main.py
models/
__init__.py
subfolder00/
subfolder01/
some_script.py --> contains def for some_function
I need to import some_function from some_script.py when running main.py, so I tried:
1) relative import
# in main.py
from ..models.subfolder00.subfolder01.somescript import some_function
but when I run (from the scripts/ folder)
python main.py
this fails with error:
ImportError: attempted relative import with no known parent package
This was expected, because I'm running main.py directly as a script, so its _name_ is set to _main_ and relative imports are bound to fail.
However, I was expecting it to work when running (always from within the scripts folder):
python -m main
but I'm getting always the same error.
2) absolute import
I tried changing the import in main.py to:
# in main.py
from models.subfolder00.subfolder01.somescript import some_function
and running, this time from the main project folder:
python scripts/main.py
so that - I was assuming - the starting point for the absolute import would be the project folder itself, from which it could get to models/....
But now I'm getting the error:
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'models'
Why didn't it work when using the -m option in the case of relative import, and it's not working when using absolute ones either? Which is the correct way to do this?

I think quite likely you missed python's official doc ( that even come offline )
https://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/modules.html
you'll need a dummy __init__.py within your module, at same level of some_script.py

I think your "absolute" import may not have been absolute in the truest sense.
Prior to running the python scripts/main.py command, you would have needed to setup PYTHONPATH environment variable to include the path to project_folder.
Alternatively I do something like this in main.py:
import sys
import os
sys.path.append(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)),'..','models','subfolder00','subfolder01'))
from somescript import some_function
Maybe it is a little pedantic, but it makes sense to me.

python: import problems with directory structure that keeps scripts and modules separate

I have the following directory structure:
app/
bin/
script1.py
script2.py
lib/
module1/
__init__.py
module1a.py
module1b.py
__init__.py
module2.py
Dockerfile
My problem is that I want to execute script1.py and script2.py, but inside those scripts, I want to import the modules in lib/.
I run my scripts from the root app/ directory (i.e. adjacent to Dockerfile) by simply executing python bin/script1.py. When I import modules into my scripts using from lib.module1 import module1a, I get ImportError: No module named lib.module1. When I try to import using relative imports, such as from ..lib.module1 import module1a, I get ValueError: Attempted relative import in non-package.
When I simply fire up the interpreter and run import lib.module1 or something, I have no issues.
How can I get this to work?

In general, you need __init__.py under app and bin, then you can do a relative import, but that expects a package
If you would structure your python code as python package (egg/wheel) then you could also define an entry point, that would become your /bin/ file post install.
here is an example of a package - https://python-packaging.readthedocs.io/en/latest/minimal.html
and this blog explains entry points quite well - https://chriswarrick.com/blog/2014/09/15/python-apps-the-right-way-entry_points-and-scripts/
if so, that way you could just do python setup.py install on your package and then have those entry points available within your PATH, as part of that you would start to structure your code in a way that would not create import issues.

You can add to the Python path at runtime in script1.py:
import sys
sys.path.insert(0, '/path/to/your/app/')
import lib.module1.module1a

you have to add current dir to python path.
use export in terminal
or sys.path.insert in your python script both are ok

Python imports structure

I want to have this structure for my project:
requirements.txt
README.md
.gitignore
project/
__init__.py
project.py
core/
__init__.py
base.py
engines/
__init__.py
engine1.py
engine2.py
utils/
__init__.py
refine_data.py
whatever.py
The application is run from project/project.py. However, I constantly get import errors when using relative or absolute imports.
Both engines need to import from project.core.base, the utils need to import from project.core.base as well, and project.py (the main file ran) needs to be able to import from engines.
Absolute imports don't work:
# engines/engine1.py
from project.core.base import MyBaseClass
which gives the error:
ImportError: No module named project.core.base
But if I try a relative import instead
# engines/engine1.py
from ..core.base import MyBaseClass
I get:
ValueError: Attempted relative import beyond toplevel package
I've seen other projects on Github structured similarly, but this seems to cause all sorts of problems. How do I get this to work?

Take a look at your sys.path. It's likely that the top project directory is in the python path, and it sees your sub-packages (ie. utils, engines, etc.) as separate packages, which is why it's giving you an error that you're trying to import from outside your package when doing relative imports, and absolute imports don't work because it can't find the top project directory because it's not under any of the python paths.
The directory above the top project directory is what needs to be added to the python path.
Ex.
/path/is/here/project/core/...
# Add this to the PYTHONPATH
/path/is/here

Try to use these imports:
engine1.py:
from core import base
refine_data.py:
from core import base
project.py
from engines import engine1
if you use pycharm mark project directory as sources root and then try to run project.py. If you don't use pycharm you can run project.py by going to project directory and running command:
python project.py

how to import nested module from nested module

Simple question, but could not find the answer.
I've following structure:
./lib1:
main.py
./lib2:
__init__.py utils.py
From the root diretory, I'm running:
python lib1/main.py
and in main.py I want to import lib2/utils.py.
adding import lib2/utils.py fails.
One solution I found is to add:
~/tmp/root$ cat lib1/main.py
import sys,os
sys.path.append(os.getcwd())
import lib2.utils
lib2.utils.foo()
which is good, but I wander if there is other solution. Thanks.

Are lib1 and lib2 separate modules? If yes, the comment by #BrenBarn applies: You need to add the top directory (containing lib1 and lib2 to the Python path (e.g using PYTHONPATH environment variable or appending to sys.path).
If both lib1 and lib2 are part of one module (i.e. there is a __init__.py file in the top directory) you can use relative imports (https://docs.python.org/2.5/whatsnew/pep-328.html).

Your problem is caused by using the wrong directory structure. The main.py script should be in the same top-level directory as the package that it needs to import. So the structure should look like this:
project /
lib2 /
__init__.py
utils.py
other.py
main.py
The directory of the main script will always be added to the start of sys.path, so this will guarantee that any packages in that directory can be always be directly imported, no matter where the script is executed from.
To import the utils module into main.py (or other.py), you should do:
from lib2 import utils

python packaging for relative imports

First off all: I'm sorry, I know there has been lots of question about relative imports, but I just didn't find a solution. If possible I would like to use the following directory layout:
myClass/
__init__.py
test/
demo.py
benchmark.py
specs.py
src/
__init__.py
myClass.py
Now my questions are:
How do the test files from within the package properly import myClass.py?
How would you import the package from outside, assuming you take myClass as submodule in libs/myClass or include/myClass?
So far I couldn't find an elegant solution for this. From what I understand Guido's Decision it should be possible to do from ..src import myClass but this will error:
ValueError: Attempted relative import in non-package
Which looks as it doesn't treat myClass as packages. Reading the docs:
The __init__.py files are required to make Python treat the directories as containing packages;
It seems I'm missing something that specifies where the scripts of the package are, should I use .pth ?

ValueError: Attempted relative import in non-package
Means you attempt to use relative import in the module which is not package. Its problem with the file which has this from ... import statement, and not the file which you are trying to import.
So if you are doing relative imports in your tests, for example, you should make your tests to be part of your package. This means
Adding __init__.py to test/
Running them from some outside script, like nosetests
If you run something as python myClass/test/demo.py, relative imports will not work too since you are running demo module not as package. Relative imports require that the module which uses them is being imported itself either as package module, from myClass.test.demo import blabla, or with relative import.

After hours of searching last night I found the answer to relative imports in python!! Or an easy solution at the very least. The best way to fix this is to have the modules called from another module. So say you want demo.py to import myClass.py. In the myClass folder at the root of the sub-packages they need to have a file that calls the other two. From what I gather the working directory is always considered __main__ so if you test the import from demo.py with the demo.py script, you will receive that error. To illustrate:
Folder hierarchy:
myClass/
main.py #arbitrary name, can be anything
test/
__init__.py
demo.py
src/
__init__.py
myClass.py
myClass.py:
def randomMaths(x):
a = x * 2
y = x * a
return y
demo.py:
from ..src import myClass
def printer():
print(myClass.randomMaths(42))
main.py:
import test.demo
demo.printer()
If you run demo.py in the interpreter, you will generate an error, but running main.py will not. It's a little convoluted, but it works :D

Intra-package-references describes how to myClass from test/*. To import the package from outside, you should add its path to PYTHONPATH environment variable before running the importer application, or to sys.path list in the code before importing it.
Why from ..src import myClass fails: probably, src is not a python package, you cannot import from there. You should add it to python path as described above.