importing Python module using PYTHONPATH in ~/.bashrc not working

Question

I have been trying to do a simple import of a Python module and have been running into problems with this simple operation.

I have a directory structure as below:

/home/username/Desktop/project
  - src/
    - src_a.py
    - __init__.py
  - bin/
    - __init__.py
    - app.py

I added /home/username/Desktop/project/src to PYTHONPATH as given below:

export PYTHONPATH="${PYTHONPATH}:/home/username/Desktop/project/src"

in my ~/.bashrc followed by a $ source ~/.bashrc.

I am still not able to get the module to be recognized in app.py nor anywhere else. My editor also does not seem to recognize (autocomplete) the module. I search through multiple related questions and they point to the same procedure. Am I missing something?

I'd suggest removing the bash tag unless you can validate that the bash code really isn't doing what it should. If you run env | grep PYTHONPATH, is the value you expect shown? If it is, not a bash problem. — Charles Duffy
– Charles Duffy, Commented May 17, 2016 at 2:51
env | grep PYTHONPATH shows path, went ahead and removed bash tag....thank you :) — lordlabakdas
– lordlabakdas, Commented May 17, 2016 at 2:54
What exactly is the import line in app.py that isn't working? — Charles Duffy
– Charles Duffy, Commented May 17, 2016 at 2:56
from src? then you need project to be in your PYTHONPATH, not project/src, and testfunction needs to be defined in src/__init__.py. — Charles Duffy
– Charles Duffy, Commented May 17, 2016 at 3:02

mhawke · Accepted Answer · 2016-05-17 02:59:01Z

3

You have created packages named src and bin. If you want to import something from a package, you need to set your PYTHONPATH to the directory containing the package's directory, in this case:

export PYTHONPATH=${PYTHONPATH}:/home/username/Desktop/project

Now you should be able to import like this:

from src import src_a

Also, since bin is a package in the same directory you can import objects from it:

from bin import app

answered May 17, 2016 at 2:59

mhawke

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2 Comments

lordlabakdas Over a year ago

You are right....thanks! The module does seem to get imported and am able to import them successfully. But, my editor(s) still do not seem to autocomplete the functions. I tried with 2 different ones (Atom and Spyder) and both fail.

lordlabakdas Over a year ago

I finally got it to work with Atom! There was an additional setting where we could specify the particular package (/home/username/Desktop/project) that we would want and autocomplete works! Not sure why it does not automatically pick it up from PYTHONPATH. Thanks again, this answer solves my issue. :)

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