find out whether a module exists (without importing it)

[Gelonida N]

Is this possible.

let's say I'd like to know whether I could import the module
'mypackage.mymodule', meaning,
whther this module is located somewhere in sys.path

i tried to use

imp.find_module(), but
it didn't find any module name containing a '.'

Am I doing anything wrong?

Is there another existing implementation, that helps.

I could do this manually, but this is something I'd just like to do if
necessary.

 

[Miki Tebeka]

imp.find_module(), but

it didn't find any module name containing a '.'

The docs (http://docs.python.org/library/imp.html#imp.find_module) clearly say:

"This function does not handle hierarchical module names (names containing dots). In order to find P.M, that is, submodule M of package P, use find_module() and load_module() to find and load package P, and then use find_module() with the path argument set to P.__path__. When P itself has a dotted name, apply this recipe recursively."

See https://gist.github.com/3278829 for possible implementation.

 

[Miki Tebeka]

imp.find_module(), but

it didn't find any module name containing a '.'

The docs (http://docs.python.org/library/imp.html#imp.find_module) clearly say:

"This function does not handle hierarchical module names (names containing dots). In order to find P.M, that is, submodule M of package P, use find_module() and load_module() to find and load package P, and then use find_module() with the path argument set to P.__path__. When P itself has a dotted name, apply this recipe recursively."

See https://gist.github.com/3278829 for possible implementation.

 

[Gelonida N]

The docs (http://docs.python.org/library/imp.html#imp.find_module) clearly say:

"This function does not handle hierarchical module names(names
containing dots).

Thanks,
Well this explains.

In order to find P.M, that is, submodule M of package P, use

find_module() and load_module() to find and load package P, and then use
find_module() with the path argument set to P.__path__. When P itself
has a dotted name, apply this recipe recursively."

See https://gist.github.com/3278829 for possible implementation.

Using imp and then iterating (as you suggested) is probably the fastest
solution. This is what I will do.

Thanks again.