How to invoke a Python method using its fully qualified name?

Question

In Java I can invoke a class or method without importing it by referencing its fully qualified name:

public class Example {
    void example() {

        //Use BigDecimal without importing it
        new java.math.BigDecimal(1);
    }
}

Similar syntax will obviously not work using Python:

class Example:
    def example(self):

        # Fails
        print(os.getcwd())

Good practice and PEP recommendations aside, can I do the same thing in Python?

Answer 1

A function does not exist until its definition runs, meaning the module it's in runs, meaning the module is imported (unless it's the script you ran directly).

The closest thing I can think of is print(__import__('os').getcwd()).

Answer 2

No. If you want to use a module in Python, you must explicit import it's name into the scope. And, as @AlexHall mentioned, a class/function/module does not exist until import time. There's no way to accesses it without import-ing. In my opinion however, this makes for better and more explicit code. This forces you to be explicit when importing module names.

Answer 3

Very late, but in case someone finds it useful, I've been using:

def fqn_import(fqn: str):
    module_name, _, function_name = fqn.rpartition('.')
    return getattr(importlib.import_module(module_name), function_name)