Importing a Python File by Name

January 25th, 2024
python, tech
Let's say you have a python script:
2024-01-24--evaluate-chimeras.py
And you want to pull a section of it out into a separate file:
2024-01-25--strand-split-artifacts.py
You would hope you could just do something like:
import "/path/to/2024-01-25--strand-split-artifacts.py"
But this doesn't work: import wants a module name, not a filename. The simplest way I know to import a python file from a path is:
import sys
import importlib

sys.path.append("/path/to/")
ssa = importlib.import_module("2024-01-25--strand-split-artifacts")
There are a lot of complicated ways to do this, some of which avoid needing to add something to sys.path, but for quick one-off research code better to keep it simple.

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