Very Simple Question: How does Python find modules?

[psychofish25]

I just have one simple question. How do I open a python script from the interactive window? Or do I have to go to File->Open?

[bartonc]

I just have one simple question. How do I open a python script from the interactive window? Or do I have to go to File->Open?

To get the names defined in in a script (functions, classes, etc.) into the interactive window, use:

import scriptname  # leave off the .py extension; must be in the current working directory

If you later modify the script, you must:

reload scriptname

[psychofish25]

To get the names defined in in a script (functions, classes, etc.) into the interactive window, use:

import scriptname  # leave off the .py extension; must be in the current working directory

If you later modify the script, you must:

reload scriptname

What if my scripts are saved in a different folder? Because I get an error that the module does not exist

[bartonc]

What if my scripts are saved in a different folder? Because I get an error that the module does not exist

3 ways that I know of:

The PYTHONPATH environment variable may be appended to by hand (not a great solution)

import sys
sys.path.append(r"D:\Python\VideoCapture-0.9-1\Python24") # use the path to your script!

Thats a little better

My favorite:
Put your scripts all in one work folder until the work is complete.
After you have some utility/whatever that you use a lot and it is pretty much finished (probably never 100%), put it in
(on my system) D:\Python24\Lib\site-packages where python will automatically find it. If you want it in its own folder, you'll need a text file with the name of that folder in it. Save it with the .pth extension in the site-packages directory. Eventually, you'll learn to make a package from your work. Packages also live in the site-packages directory.

OK; I guess that's more like 5 ways of showing python where your scripts are.

[bartonc]

What if my scripts are saved in a different folder? Because I get an error that the module does not exist

Oh, yeah. One more way:

If you open a console (DOS) window and navigate to the folder where your scripts are, then type

python

you'll get an interactive window with the current working directory set correctly.

My favorite console is Console2 because it makes it easy to save sessions and start them back up later.