Need help referencing Python Package when the filename consists of a period key

Question

Hi all,

I have a pretty simple question. I am making use of Django and I have a file which is called models.admin.py 

Check out the below syntax, this is what I want to do:

from "models.admin" import *

Maybe it is because of the double quotes that I use - I am ending up with a beautiful error message. 

But consider the following case:

from models.admin import *

If I end up doing that then I get another error! This time it is the ImportError: No module named admin"

My question is basically this - Is there any way to import a file in Python which consists of a period in the name?

All help appreciated!

Answer 1

Hi, it's a very simple answer actually. 

You can make sure to import a module with a name which is not valid. Make sure you use imp for this purpose.

Let me give you an example:

Let us say you are assuming the file is called as models.admin.py then you can consider doing this:

import imp
with open('models.admin.py', 'rb') as fp:
    models_admin = imp.load_module(
        'models_admin', fp, 'models.admin.py',
        ('.py', 'rb', imp.PY_SOURCE)
    )

Also, make sure to glance at the official documentation on the imp.find_module and imp.load_module just before you go about implementing it.

Hope this helped!