TypeError: 'module' object is not callable (newby question)

[Charles Russell]

Why does this work from the python prompt, but fail from a script?
How does one make it work from a script?

#! /usr/bin/python
import glob
# following line works from python prompt; why not in script?
files=glob.glob('*.py')
print files

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "./glob.py", line 2, in ?
import glob
File "/home/cdr/python/glob.py", line 5, in ?
files=glob.glob('*.py')
TypeError: 'module' object is not callable

 

[faulkner]

works for me. do you do anything in your script besides that?

 

[Marc 'BlackJack' Rintsch]

Why does this work from the python prompt, but fail from a script?
How does one make it work from a script?

#! /usr/bin/python
import glob
# following line works from python prompt; why not in script?
files=glob.glob('*.py')
print files

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "./glob.py", line 2, in ?
import glob
File "/home/cdr/python/glob.py", line 5, in ?
files=glob.glob('*.py')
TypeError: 'module' object is not callable

Don't call your file `glob.py` because then you import this module and not
the `glob` module from the standard library.

Ciao,
Marc 'BlackJack' Rintsch

 

[John Machin]

Why does this work from the python prompt, but fail from a script?
How does one make it work from a script?

#! /usr/bin/python
import glob
# following line works from python prompt; why not in script?
files=glob.glob('*.py')
print files

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "./glob.py", line 2, in ?
import glob
File "/home/cdr/python/glob.py", line 5, in ?
files=glob.glob('*.py')
TypeError: 'module' object is not callable

Short answer: Change the name of your script file.

Long answer:

<humour>
It is attempting to emulate the mythical ooloo bird, which is allegedly
capable of evading would-be predators by vanishing up its own
fundamental orifice. This topological exploit won't be available in
Python until the as yet still mythical Python 3000.
</humour>

Contemplate the following:

C:\junk>type glob.py
if __name__ == "__main__":
print "*** Being run as a script ..."
import glob
print "glob was imported from", glob.__file__
print "glob.glob is", type(glob.glob)
print "glob.glob was imported from", glob.glob.__file__
print "(glob.glob is glob) is", glob.glob is glob
print "--- end of script"
else:
print "*** Aarrgghh!! I'm being imported as", __name__
import glob
print "glob was imported from", glob.__file__
print "glob.glob is", type(glob.glob)
print "glob.glob was imported from", glob.glob.__file__
print "(glob.glob is glob) is", glob.glob is glob
print "--- end of import"

C:\junk>glob.py
*** Being run as a script ...
*** Aarrgghh!! I'm being imported as glob
glob was imported from C:\junk\glob.pyc
glob.glob is <type 'module'>
glob.glob was imported from C:\junk\glob.pyc
(glob.glob is glob) is True
--- end of import
glob was imported from C:\junk\glob.pyc
glob.glob is <type 'module'>
glob.glob was imported from C:\junk\glob.pyc
(glob.glob is glob) is True
--- end of script

HTH,
John

C:\junk>

 

[Charles Russell]

Don't call your file `glob.py` because then you import this module and not
the `glob` module from the standard library.

Ciao,
Marc 'BlackJack' Rintsch

Yes, thanks. Renaming to myglob.py solved the problem. But why does the
conflict not occur when the code is run interactively from the python
prompt? Somewhat related - I haven't found the magic word to invoke a
..py script from the python prompt (like the command "source" in csh,
bash, tcl?) "import" runs the script, but then complains that it is not
a module.

 

[Charles Russell]

Contemplate the following:

C:\junk>type glob.py
if __name__ == "__main__":
print "*** Being run as a script ..."
import glob
print "glob was imported from", glob.__file__
print "glob.glob is", type(glob.glob)
print "glob.glob was imported from", glob.glob.__file__
print "(glob.glob is glob) is", glob.glob is glob
print "--- end of script"
else:
print "*** Aarrgghh!! I'm being imported as", __name__
import glob
print "glob was imported from", glob.__file__
print "glob.glob is", type(glob.glob)
print "glob.glob was imported from", glob.glob.__file__
print "(glob.glob is glob) is", glob.glob is glob
print "--- end of import"

Thanks. Another newby question: __name__ and __file__ appear to be
predefined variables. To look up their meaning in the manual, is there
some method less clumsy than grepping the whole collection of .html
source files? I can't find any comprehensive index.

 

[Charles Russell]

Charles Russell wrote:

But why does the

conflict not occur when the code is run interactively from the python
prompt?

Because, I now realize, I had not yet created glob.py when I tried that.

 

[John Machin]

Yes, thanks. Renaming to myglob.py solved the problem. But why does the
conflict not occur when the code is run interactively from the python
prompt?

It does for me on Windows -- see below --because '' (representing the
cwd) is injected at the front of sys.path. *xMMV of course. Or perhaps
when you ran it your cwd was some other directory.

C:\junk>dir glob*
[snip]
15/08/2006 04:28 AM 662 glob.py
15/08/2006 04:28 AM 592 glob.pyc
[snip]
C:\junk>python
Python 2.4.3 (#69, Mar 29 2006, 17:35:34) [MSC v.1310 32 bit (Intel)]
on win32
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
|>>> import glob
*** Aarrgghh!! I'm being imported as glob
glob was imported from glob.pyc
glob.glob is <type 'module'>
glob.glob was imported from glob.pyc
(glob.glob is glob) is True
--- end of import
|>>>

Cheers,
John

 

[Marc 'BlackJack' Rintsch]

Another newby question: __name__ and __file__ appear to be
predefined variables. To look up their meaning in the manual, is there
some method less clumsy than grepping the whole collection of .html
source files? I can't find any comprehensive index.

Here's the index of the reference manual:

http://docs.python.org/ref/genindex.html

Ciao,
Marc 'BlackJack' Rintsch

 

[Charles Russell]

Charles Russell wrote:
I haven't found the magic word to invoke a

.py script from the python prompt (like the command "source" in csh,
bash, tcl?)

Seems to be execfile()

 

[Charles Russell]

Here's the index of the reference manual:

http://docs.python.org/ref/genindex.html

Thanks. When I go up a level from there, I find a pointer to the index
right at the bottom of the table of contents, which I had overlooked.