8: Importing A File(Command line Python scripting)

One of the great things about Python is that we can import functions from one package into a file. We can also import functions and classes from one file into another file. This gives us a powerful way to structure larger projects without having to put everything into one file.

We'll experiment with this style of import by writing a function in a file, and then importing it from another file.

If there's a file named utils.py, we can import it from another file in the same directory usingimport utils. All the functions and classes defined in utils.py will then be available using dot notation. If there's a function calledkeep_time in utils.py, we can access it withutils.keep_time() after importing it.

Instructions

Create a file called utils.py that contains the following code:

def print_message():
    print("Hello from another file!")

Modify the original script.py file to instead contain this code:

import utils

if __name__ == "__main__":
    utils.print_message()

Both script.py and utils.py should be in the same folder.

Finally, run python script.py to print out the message

~$ echo -e 'def print_message():\n print("Hello from another file!")' > utils.py~$ echo -e 'import utils\n\nif __name__ == "__main__":\n utils.print_message()' > script.py~$ python script.py