You seem to be adding path to mysite package, not Project1. But app1 is located in Project1, so Python can't find it.

Try this:

sys.path.append("/home/jack/workspace/Project1")

2 errors in your code:

1. The Project directory is not just 1-level up. From the point of view of file1.py, it is actually 2 levels up. See this:

$ cd ..
(venv) nponcian 1$ tree
.
└── Project
    ├── folder1
    │   └── file1.py
    └── folder2
        └── file2.py
(venv) nponcian 1$ cd Project/folder1/
(venv) nponcian folder1$ ls ..
folder1  folder2
(venv) nponcian folder1$ ls ../..
Project

2. Even if the above works, adding a relative path as a string would literally append that string as its raw value. So if you add a print(sys.path), it would display something like this:

['/usr/lib/python38.zip', '/usr/lib/python3.8', '/usr/lib/python3.8/lib-dynload', '../Project', '.']

• It literally added '../Project', so if python started searching for the target modules in folder2, it wouldn't still find them because how would it know where exactly is '../Project' relative to.

Solution

What you need to add is the absolute path. If your problem is it might change, it is fine because we don't need a fixed absolute path. We can get the absolute path through the location of the current file being executed e.g. file1.py and then extracting the parent directory needed. Thus, this will work regardless if the absolute paths change because the way we are getting it is always relative to file1.py. Try this:

Project/folder1/file1.py

from pathlib import Path
import sys
sys.path.append(str(Path(__file__).parent.parent.parent))  # 1. <.parent> contains this file1.py 2. <.parent.parent> contains folder1 3. <.parent.parent.parent> contains Project

... the rest of the file

Are you trying to import or open? If you want to import it, you need this:

import.syssys.path.append(r"C:\ABC\ABC\Repository\Final") #windows paths need an "r" on the front (raw string)import results #note no .py on the end

That error looks like you are opening a file. If you want to do that:

import osos.chdir(r"C:\ABC\ABC\Repository\Final") with open('results.py') as f:    data = f.read()

The general answer to this question should be don't, I guess. Messing with relative paths means that the path is relative to the place from where you're calling it. That's why PYTHONPATH is worth embracing instead.

Let's assume, your directory structure looks like this:

./projects/myproject/ElementExtractor.py
./projects/myproject/test/ElementExtractorTest.py

Now, you're calling your script like this:

[./projects/myproject]$ python3.5 ./test/ElementExtractorTest.py

Your current directory is myproject and in ElementExtractorTest.py you're adding ../ directory to sys.path. This means, that ./projects/myproject/../ (i.e.: ./projects) is effectively added to your PYTHONPATH. That' why Python is unable to locate your module.

Your code would work from test directory though:

[./projects/myproject/test]$ python3.5 ./ElementExtractorTest.py

Now, by adding .. to sys.path you are effectively adding ./projects/myproject/test/../ (i.e. ./projects/myproject) to sys.path, so the module can be found and imported.

How python finds its modules

Strictly taken, a module is a single python file, while a package is a folder containing python files, accompanied by a (can be empty) file named __init__.py, to tell python it is a package to import modules from. In both cases, modules need their .py extension, but importing them is done without (see further below).

By default, Python looks for its modules and packages in $PYTHONPATH.

To find out what is included in $PYTHONPATH, run the following code in python (3):

import sys
print(sys.path)

How to add a directory

Occasionally

From within a python file, you can add path(s) occasionally to the default path by adding the following lines in the head section of your python application or script:

import sys
sys.path.insert(0, "/path/to/your/package_or_module")

For example:

if I have a folder: /home/myname/pythonfiles, and I want to import the file module_1.py, located in that directory, I add this to the head section of my code:

import sys
sys.path.insert(0, "/home/myname/pythonfiles")

And I can simply import the file module_1.py by:

import module_1

When I create a package and want to import module(s) from the package, I need to create a folder in $PYTHONPATH, containing the modules, accompanied by a (can be empty) file called __init__.py

For example:

To import from a package (folder) called my_package in /home/myname/pythonfiles , add the /home/myname/pythonfiles path to your $PYTHONPATH, like in example 1, and import the module called module_2.py (inside the package folder) simply with: `

from <packagename> import module_2

Adding directories to $PYTHONPATH permanently:

Add the following line to your ~/.profile file.

export PYTHONPATH=$PYTHONPATH:/path/you/want/to/add

Subdirectories

From within a package, subdirectories are not included just like that; you need to "chain" the directories. To import a module module_3.py, inside folder subfolder inside folder packagename:

import packagename.subfolder.module_3

Given the fact that all subfolders in the package include their own __init__.py file.

When a module is in the same directory as the script or application

There is no need to insert the path to a module when it is in the same directory as the script or application, it is automatically added.

Example:

If I have a folder, containing script.py and module.py, I can simply import the module by:

import module

I'm afraid you can't do it that way.

Because of structure:

/home/sam/pythonModules/module1/lib/module1.py
/home/sam/pythonModules/module2/lib/module2.py

You can't put both:

• /home/sam/pythonModules/module1 and
• /home/sam/pythonModules/module2

in sys.path and expect that Python will find:

• module1 in module1/lib and
• module2 in module2/lib

when you try import like:

from lib.module1 import A
from lib.module2 import B

If you put /home/sam/pythonModules/module1 before /home/sam/pythonModules/module2 in sys.path array, then import lib.MODULE will search for MODULE in /home/sam/pythonModules/module1/lib.

Since there is only module1 and no module2 in it, you get error.

What you can do is to put both

• /home/sam/pythonModules/module1/lib/ and
• /home/sam/pythonModules/module2/lib/

in sys.path and expect Python to correctly import them with next lines:

from module1 import A
from module2 import B

You need to make sure that you've altered your sys.path before you attempt to load any package that might depend on the altered path - otherwise your script will fail the moment it encounters and import statement. In other words, make sure your Main.py begins as:

import os
import sys

path = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), os.pardir)
sys.path.append(path)

from dirA.ClassA import ClassA

To ensure that the last import statement operates on the altered path.

Perhaps I'm missing something, but this file path...

C:\Netra_Step_2015\Tests\SVTestcases\Common\shared

...isn't in your sys.path, so it's not surprising you got an error. You have several options though. Changing your project structure or, if Common and shared are actual packages with __init__.py defined inside of them, do:

import Common.shared.testCaseBase

You can also just append the path in your calling script, so:

sys.path.append('\SVTestcases\Common\shared')

Or, actually just add the following path to your ENV variable (PYTHONPATH)

C:\Netra_Step_2015\Tests\SVTestcases\Common\shared

But it's not necessarily a good habit to substitute good directory structure and importing techniques with editing your PYTHONPATH each time. You'll be much better off if you resolve this another way.