0

file1.py

def foo(x):
    print(x)

file2.py

def foo(x):
    print(x)

main.py

import file1
import file2
#User inputs either file1 or file2
variable = input()
#--
#TODO: A way to call the correct module so either file1.foo('test') or file2.foo('test')
#--

The code explains what I want to achieve but I can't find a solution to my problem, I have been looking for a couple of hours. Maybe I am just looking in the wrong place or looking with the wrong keywords. Most of the solutions online are solutions for the opposite problem. (constant module, variable function)

Please keep in mind that this is a simplified version of my actual code. In this example I could just solve it with an if-statement but in my actual project I have around 30 possible modules that could be called so it wouldn't be tidy to fix it with an if-statement.

Thanks in advance!

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  • I'd suggest that an explicit if (or using a dictionary to store the functions against string keys, or something else of that ilk) is the "tidy" way of doing things. It will make your code much more explicit and less surprising than using reflection to turn a string into a module reference, or using importlib. Commented Sep 7, 2019 at 19:06
  • At first my goal was to keep it as compact as possible but I may change it to a dict. Just to improve readability. Commented Sep 7, 2019 at 19:18

2 Answers 2

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3

Perhaps you're looking for __import__?

file = __import__(input())
file.foo()

A way without __import__ would be to use a dictionary:

import file1
import file2

modules = {'file1': file1,
           'file2': file2}
modules[input()].foo()
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3 Comments

Unless you really know what you're doing I'd avoid using __import__ or importlib at all, there are almost always cleaner less-error-prone ways to achieve the same thing
This fixed my problem, thank you! I'll accept your answer as soon as the timer allows me to :)
@DriesAugustyns Glad to help :)
2

You can use an additional foo variable that refers to either file1.foo or file2.foo based on the input, and then just call foo later:

if variable == 'file1':
    foo = file1.foo
else:
    foo = file2.foo

foo('test')

In case of multiple modules, you can use importlib.import_module for this:

import importlib

mod = importlib.import_module(variable)

mod.foo('test')
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4 Comments

"In this example I could just solve it with an if-statement but in my actual project I have around 30 possible modules that could be called so it wouldn't be tidy to fix it with an if-statement."
In that case I would still need a massive if to compare all modules
@DriesAugustyns In that case you can use importlib, check the edit.
Great edit! importlib seems to be a great solution as well.