running a script from another script without knowing it's name

[noama]

Hi,
I want to make a script that will call the run() func of some other scripts who's name the main script will read from a file.

i.e, the main script will:
1. read the file
2. for each <name> in the file:
3. try to call <name>.run()

i.e, if i have a text file:

one
two

the main script will read the text file and then try to call one.run() and two.run()

I can't use the os module since i need the return value of that function.

[ilikepython]

Hi,
I want to make a script that will call the run() func of some other scripts who's name the main script will read from a file.

i.e, the main script will:
1. read the file
2. for each <name> in the file:
3. try to call <name>.run()

i.e, if i have a text file:

one
two

the main script will read the text file and then try to call one.run() and two.run()

I can't use the os module since i need the return value of that function.

Use the __import__ function:

>>> name = "one"
>>> mod = __import__(name)
<module 'one' from blah blah blah>
>>> mod.run() # call function
 

[bartonc]

Hi,
I want to make a script that will call the run() func of some other scripts who's name the main script will read from a file.

i.e, the main script will:
1. read the file
2. for each <name> in the file:
3. try to call <name>.run()

i.e, if i have a text file:

one
two

the main script will read the text file and then try to call one.run() and two.run()

I can't use the os module since i need the return value of that function.

In the text files, remember to leave off the '.py' extension.
For every .txt file in a given directory, use:

import os.path
import sys
import glob
for fullPath in glob.glob(r"aPath\*.txt"):
    thisDir, fName = os.path.split(fullPath)
    if thisDir not in sys.path:
        sys.path.append(thisDir)
    f = open(fName)
    lineList = f.readlines()
    f.close()
    for line in lineList:
        try:
            mod = __import__(line.strip())
            mod.run()
        except ImportError, AttributeError:
            pass  # either no module or no run() function

If you are hard-coding the names, use:

fNames = ["one.txt", "two.txt"]
for fName in fNames:
    # current working directory; leave out os and sys stuff
    # everything else is the same here

[noama]

and what do i do if the module i want to import isn't in the same directory as the main script, but it's not in a package (the directory doesn't contain a __init__.py file) either?

[bartonc]

and what do i do if the module i want to import isn't in the same directory as the main script, but it's not in a package (the directory doesn't contain a __init__.py file) either?

OK. I think that I get the scenario:

For a script that reads a text file from its own (current working) directory, the text file might have:

# module list
C:\rest\of\fully\quallified\path\Module1.py
C:\rest\of\fully\quallified\path\Module2.py

and this would import the modules listed in it:

import os.path
import sys
 
modListFile = open("thelistfile.txt")
moduleList = modListFile.readlines()
modListFile .close()
 
for line in moduleList:
    fullPath = os.path.normpath(line.strip())
    thisDir, fName = os.path.split(fullPath)
    modName, ext = os.path.splitext(fName)  # this is new #
    if thisDir not in sys.path:
        sys.path.append(thisDir)
    try:
        mod = __import__(modName)
        mod.run()
    except ImportError, AttributeError:
        pass  # either no module or no run() function

Which you might have been able to figure out from the original (it's not very different).