How to import the class within the same directory or sub directory?

Question

I have a directory that stores all the .py files.

bin/    main.py    user.py # where class User resides    dir.py # where class Dir resides 

I want to use classes from user.py and dir.py in main.py.
How can I import these Python classes into main.py?
Furthermore, how can I import class User if user.py is in a sub directory?

bin/     dir.py     main.py     usr/         user.py 

Answer 1

Python 2

Make an empty file called __init__.py in the same directory as the files. That will signify to Python that it's "ok to import from this directory".

Then just do...

from user import User from dir import Dir 

The same holds true if the files are in a subdirectory - put an __init__.py in the subdirectory as well, and then use regular import statements, with dot notation. For each level of directory, you need to add to the import path.

bin/     main.py     classes/         user.py         dir.py 

So if the directory was named "classes", then you'd do this:

from classes.user import User from classes.dir import Dir 

Python 3

Same as previous, but prefix the module name with a . if not using a subdirectory:

from .user import User from .dir import Dir 

Answer 2

I just learned (thanks to martineau's comment) that, in order to import classes from files within the same directory, you would now write in Python 3:

from .user import User from .dir import Dir