[FIXED] How to import modules given a list of their names?

Issue

I am trying to import modules from a list. This would be to allow easier editing of imported modules, cleaner error message, and better error handling. Here is basically what I am trying to do:

imports = ['sys', 'itertools', 'datetime', 'os']
for x in imports:
    try:
        import x
        print "Successfully imported ", x, '.'
    except ImportError:
        print "Error importing ", x, '.'

The issue here is that it tries importing x, not the value x should hold. I realize that to import from the list I could do something like below, but I do not see a way to handle the errors with it:

imports = ['sys', 'itertools', 'datetime', 'os']
modules = map(__import__, imports)

Is there a way to integrate the error handling with this method or should I try a different approach?

Solution

Instead of mapping them to ___import__ all at once, just append each module to the list modules one at a time inside the for-loop:

imports = ['sys', 'itertools', 'datetime', 'os']
modules = []
for x in imports:
    try:
        modules.append(__import__(x))
        print "Successfully imported ", x, '.'
    except ImportError:
        print "Error importing ", x, '.'

Note however that most Python programmers prefer the use of importlib.import_module rather than __import__ for this task.

---

Note too that it might be better to make modules a dictionary instead of a list:

imports = ['sys', 'itertools', 'datetime', 'os']
modules = {}
for x in imports:
    try:
        modules[x] = __import__(x)
        print "Successfully imported ", x, '.'
    except ImportError:
        print "Error importing ", x, '.'

Now, instead of by index:

modules[0].version
modules[3].path

you can access the modules by name:

modules["sys"].version
modules["os"].path

Answered By - user2555451

Answer Checked By - Cary Denson (PHPFixing Admin)