dynamic import

[Duncan Booth]

bry at itnisk.com wrote in
news:mailman.750.1090583812.5135.python-list at python.org: 

> Hi,
> I'm trying to do a dynamic import of a file that has no problems with
> it, that is to say I can import it normally, my sys.path is set to the
> right folder etc. but my dynamic import code is not working, this is
> the problem code: 
> 
> try:
>     import f[0]
> except:
>     print "not importable"
>   
> f[0] returns the name of the file I'm importing, so I suppose this is
> a typing problem, should I change f[0] to be some other type?

No. The import statement takes the name of a module, it doesn't take a 
string. For example, instead of:

   import sys
   print sys.version

you are trying to do the equivalent of:

   import "sys"
   print "sys".version

You wouldn't expect the second line to work, so why should you expect the 
first line to work? If it did work, how would you expect to refer to the 
module it imported?

In this case your solution is to use the __import__ builtin. My example 
becomes:

   module = __import__("sys")
   print module.version