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authorGeorg Brandl <georg@python.org>2007-08-23 20:50:23 (GMT)
committerGeorg Brandl <georg@python.org>2007-08-23 20:50:23 (GMT)
commit3e0f735ce1ff1b4e577c84386460bd0c94afe09f (patch)
treec849cff6ae671c1b16e7c271788efc262de685df /Doc
parent891f1d339b742986d0abdc288d02cfdf57121e4e (diff)
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Bug #1694833: fix imp.find_module() docs wrt. packages.
Diffstat (limited to 'Doc')
-rw-r--r--Doc/library/imp.rst78
1 files changed, 43 insertions, 35 deletions
diff --git a/Doc/library/imp.rst b/Doc/library/imp.rst
index 5428386..cd28b86 100644
--- a/Doc/library/imp.rst
+++ b/Doc/library/imp.rst
@@ -33,54 +33,62 @@ This module provides an interface to the mechanisms used to implement the
.. function:: find_module(name[, path])
- Try to find the module *name* on the search path *path*. If *path* is a list of
- directory names, each directory is searched for files with any of the suffixes
- returned by :func:`get_suffixes` above. Invalid names in the list are silently
- ignored (but all list items must be strings). If *path* is omitted or ``None``,
- the list of directory names given by ``sys.path`` is searched, but first it
- searches a few special places: it tries to find a built-in module with the given
- name (:const:`C_BUILTIN`), then a frozen module (:const:`PY_FROZEN`), and on
- some systems some other places are looked in as well (on the Mac, it looks for a
- resource (:const:`PY_RESOURCE`); on Windows, it looks in the registry which may
- point to a specific file).
+ Try to find the module *name* on the search path *path*. If *path* is a list
+ of directory names, each directory is searched for files with any of the
+ suffixes returned by :func:`get_suffixes` above. Invalid names in the list
+ are silently ignored (but all list items must be strings). If *path* is
+ omitted or ``None``, the list of directory names given by ``sys.path`` is
+ searched, but first it searches a few special places: it tries to find a
+ built-in module with the given name (:const:`C_BUILTIN`), then a frozen
+ module (:const:`PY_FROZEN`), and on some systems some other places are looked
+ in as well (on the Mac, it looks for a resource (:const:`PY_RESOURCE`); on
+ Windows, it looks in the registry which may point to a specific file).
If search is successful, the return value is a triple ``(file, pathname,
- description)`` where *file* is an open file object positioned at the beginning,
- *pathname* is the pathname of the file found, and *description* is a triple as
- contained in the list returned by :func:`get_suffixes` describing the kind of
- module found. If the module does not live in a file, the returned *file* is
- ``None``, *filename* is the empty string, and the *description* tuple contains
- empty strings for its suffix and mode; the module type is as indicate in
- parentheses above. If the search is unsuccessful, :exc:`ImportError` is raised.
- Other exceptions indicate problems with the arguments or environment.
-
- 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
+ description)``:
+
+ *file* is an open file object positioned at the beginning, *pathname* is the
+ pathname of the file found, and *description* is a triple as contained in the
+ list returned by :func:`get_suffixes` describing the kind of module found.
+
+ If the module does not live in a file, the returned *file* is ``None``,
+ *pathname* is the empty string, and the *description* tuple contains empty
+ strings for its suffix and mode; the module type is indicated as given in
+ parentheses above. If the search is unsuccessful, :exc:`ImportError` is
+ raised. Other exceptions indicate problems with the arguments or
+ environment.
+
+ If the module is a package, *file* is ``None``, *pathname* is the package
+ path and the last item in the *description* tuple is :const:`PKG_DIRECTORY`.
+
+ 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
:func:`find_module` and :func:`load_module` to find and load package *P*, and
then use :func:`find_module` with the *path* argument set to ``P.__path__``.
When *P* itself has a dotted name, apply this recipe recursively.
-.. function:: load_module(name, file, filename, description)
+.. function:: load_module(name, file, pathname, description)
.. index:: builtin: reload
Load a module that was previously found by :func:`find_module` (or by an
otherwise conducted search yielding compatible results). This function does
more than importing the module: if the module was already imported, it is
- equivalent to a :func:`reload`! The *name* argument indicates the full module
- name (including the package name, if this is a submodule of a package). The
- *file* argument is an open file, and *filename* is the corresponding file name;
- these can be ``None`` and ``''``, respectively, when the module is not being
- loaded from a file. The *description* argument is a tuple, as would be returned
- by :func:`get_suffixes`, describing what kind of module must be loaded.
-
- If the load is successful, the return value is the module object; otherwise, an
- exception (usually :exc:`ImportError`) is raised.
-
- **Important:** the caller is responsible for closing the *file* argument, if it
- was not ``None``, even when an exception is raised. This is best done using a
- :keyword:`try` ... :keyword:`finally` statement.
+ equivalent to a :func:`reload`! The *name* argument indicates the full
+ module name (including the package name, if this is a submodule of a
+ package). The *file* argument is an open file, and *pathname* is the
+ corresponding file name; these can be ``None`` and ``''``, respectively, when
+ the module is a package or not being loaded from a file. The *description*
+ argument is a tuple, as would be returned by :func:`get_suffixes`, describing
+ what kind of module must be loaded.
+
+ If the load is successful, the return value is the module object; otherwise,
+ an exception (usually :exc:`ImportError`) is raised.
+
+ **Important:** the caller is responsible for closing the *file* argument, if
+ it was not ``None``, even when an exception is raised. This is best done
+ using a :keyword:`try` ... :keyword:`finally` statement.
.. function:: new_module(name)