How to import whole namespace into global symbol table? (newbie)

[Edward Elliott]

Scott Simpson wrote:
> def func():
>      from sys import stderr, exit
>      try:
>          f = open("foo", 'r')
>      except IOError:
>          print >> stderr, "Input file foo does not exist"
>          exit(1)

IOError can be raised when foo exists, e.g. if there's a permission problem. 
It's better to print the actual error message:

>>> except IOError, e:
...    print >>stderr, e
[Errno 13] Permission denied: 'foo'


> Notice that I have two "import sys" statements, one for each function.
> Is there any way to import the "sys" stuff to the global symbol table so
> I don't need two "import" statements?

move import outside your function scopes.

 
> Lastly, is there an equivalent of Perl's "die" function? I'm writing to
> stderr and dieing above but I'm not quite sure if this is the "correct"
> way.

you can reraise the exception and get a stack trace.  if you want to
replicate die "something\n"; (no stack trace), I'm not sure if there's a
single-function python equivalent.