Executing `from abc import xyz` where does the module `abc` go?

Question

Question about Python internals. If I execute import abc then Python reads the module into a new namespace and binds the variable abc in the global namespace to point to the new namespace.

If I execute from abc import xyz then it reads the entire module abc into some new namespace and then binds the variable xyz in the global namespace to the same object which is bound to xyz in this newly created namespace where the module was read into. At least that's my understanding.

What happens to the namespace where abc was read into after that? I'm assuming it lives on somewhere, because xyz might access other objects in that namespace. Can this "ghost" abc namespace be accessed somehow?

Also, I'm assuming that if I do

from abc import xyz
from abc import fgh

then there is only one "ghost" abc namespace, so that if xyz and fgh modify the same global variable in abc, there will only be one copy of it. Is that correct?

Answer 1

The module object is stored in sys.modules. So if you do from abc import xyz, then sys.modules['abc'] will give you the abc module object.