Python Module with a dash, or hyphen (-) in its name

102
votes

I have an existing python module with a dash in its name, foo-bar.py

Changing the module name is something I would prefer to avoid as the module is shared, and I would have to chase down all the places it is used so that my special case will work.

Is there a way to load a module whose name contains the typically forbidden '-'?

(I do understand that this isn't a best practice. But for this situation I would prefer not to redesign and test a much larger set of applications. Also I don't think my corporate masters would approve of my taking the time to implement such a change.)

3
pythonmoduleimport
stackoverflow.com/questions/761519/… – BenH
This answer in particular: stackoverflow.com/questions/761519/… – BenH
agf Short answer: it isn't all my code. – Skip Huffman
S.Lott the other users are commercial applications. Which is how I know it is possible. – Skip Huffman
Does this answer your question? Is it ok to use dashes in Python files when trying to import them? – Georgy

3 Answers

103
votes

You can do that using __import__(). For example:

foobar = __import__("foo-bar")

But you really should rename the module instead. That way you can avoid confusion where the filename of the module is different from the identifier used in the program.

60
votes

I know this question has already been answered to satisfaction of the asker, but here is another answer which I believes has some merit above using __import__().

import importlib
mod = importlib.import_module("path.to.my-module")
# mod.yourmethod()

According to the docs:

"This provides an implementation of import which is portable to any 
Python interpreter. This also provides an implementation which is 
easier to comprehend than one implemented in a programming language 
other than Python."

Python 2.7 + only

0
votes

Try using underscore instead of a hyphen.

import pymysql_utils

worked for me even though import pymysql-utils was the name of the module used by pip