How to import Django Settings to python standalone script

Question

I'm having difficulty calling a django script. Here is what I'm currently doing in my root directory:

>>> import os
>>> os.environ['DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE'] = 'settings.py'
>>> from django.conf import settings
>>> settings.configure()
>>> settings.DATABASES
{}

The settings.DATABASES should not be empty, so I know I haven't initialized the project correct. How would I do this in django2.1? I used to be able to do this easily using import settings; setup_environ(settings), but not anymore.

Note: I'm looking to be able to run the above from any directory. Here is an example from trying to import my project from tmp:

(V) david$ cd /tmp && python

>>> import django
>>> from django.conf import settings
>>> settings.configure()
>>> django.setup()
>>> from users.models import *
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'users'

Answer 1

The 2.1 docs state that you need to use setup() now. Relevant snippet:

import django
from django.conf import settings

settings.configure()
django.setup()

# Now this script or any imported module can use any part of Django it needs.
from myapp import models

Here is the full documentation.