How to include the project root folder into PYTHONPATH when running python script in sub folder

Question

Here's my project structure

- folder_1
    - folder_2  
        - file1.py
        - file2.py

    - folder_3
        - file3.py

Now I use this command to run file1.py

python folder_1/folder_2/file1.py

But what I found is that python put folder_1/folder_2 into PYTHONPATH. What I want is also put folder_1 into PYTHONPATH, so that file_1.py can import functions into file3.py. Although I can populate PYTHONPATH by myself, I just wonder whether there is any convenient or standard way to do that, because I believe it is a very common scenario.

Sreeragh A R · Accepted Answer · 2024-08-20 09:21:01Z

1

You can use sys.path in your script:

import sys, os

project_root = os.path.abspath(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), '..', '..')) # Get the absolute path of the project root directory
sys.path.append(project_root)

Now you can import modules from the root or other folders like this:

import folder_3.file3

So your code will look like this:

import sys, os
project_root = os.path.abspath(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), '..', '..')) # Get the absolute path of the project root directory
sys.path.append(project_root) # Add it to the directories where python will search for modules while importing

import folder_3.file3

edited Aug 20, 2024 at 9:21

Sreeragh A R

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answered Aug 20, 2024 at 9:12

nk0

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2 Comments

zjffdu Over a year ago

Is this the standard way to do that? My scenario is I want to arbitray python file in my project which is a very common scenario. Does that mean I have to do this for every file?

nk0 Over a year ago

Using sys is the most common and straightforward approach I know. sys is part of Python's standard library, making it readily available in any Python environment. While there are alternative methods to this, they tend to be more complex and less straightforward compared to using sys.path.

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