cpython/Doc/c-api/import.rst
Eric Snow 3f9eee6eb4 bpo-28411: Support other mappings in PyInterpreterState.modules. (#3593)
The concrete PyDict_* API is used to interact with PyInterpreterState.modules in a number of places. This isn't compatible with all dict subclasses, nor with other Mapping implementations. This patch switches the concrete API usage to the corresponding abstract API calls.

We also add a PyImport_GetModule() function (and some other helpers) to reduce a bunch of code duplication.
2017-09-15 16:35:20 -06:00

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.. highlightlang:: c
.. _importing:
Importing Modules
=================
.. c:function:: PyObject* PyImport_ImportModule(const char *name)
.. index::
single: package variable; __all__
single: __all__ (package variable)
single: modules (in module sys)
This is a simplified interface to :c:func:`PyImport_ImportModuleEx` below,
leaving the *globals* and *locals* arguments set to *NULL* and *level* set
to 0. When the *name*
argument contains a dot (when it specifies a submodule of a package), the
*fromlist* argument is set to the list ``['*']`` so that the return value is the
named module rather than the top-level package containing it as would otherwise
be the case. (Unfortunately, this has an additional side effect when *name* in
fact specifies a subpackage instead of a submodule: the submodules specified in
the package's ``__all__`` variable are loaded.) Return a new reference to the
imported module, or *NULL* with an exception set on failure. A failing
import of a module doesn't leave the module in :data:`sys.modules`.
This function always uses absolute imports.
.. c:function:: PyObject* PyImport_ImportModuleNoBlock(const char *name)
This function is a deprecated alias of :c:func:`PyImport_ImportModule`.
.. versionchanged:: 3.3
This function used to fail immediately when the import lock was held
by another thread. In Python 3.3 though, the locking scheme switched
to per-module locks for most purposes, so this function's special
behaviour isn't needed anymore.
.. c:function:: PyObject* PyImport_ImportModuleEx(const char *name, PyObject *globals, PyObject *locals, PyObject *fromlist)
.. index:: builtin: __import__
Import a module. This is best described by referring to the built-in Python
function :func:`__import__`.
The return value is a new reference to the imported module or top-level
package, or *NULL* with an exception set on failure. Like for
:func:`__import__`, the return value when a submodule of a package was
requested is normally the top-level package, unless a non-empty *fromlist*
was given.
Failing imports remove incomplete module objects, like with
:c:func:`PyImport_ImportModule`.
.. c:function:: PyObject* PyImport_ImportModuleLevelObject(PyObject *name, PyObject *globals, PyObject *locals, PyObject *fromlist, int level)
Import a module. This is best described by referring to the built-in Python
function :func:`__import__`, as the standard :func:`__import__` function calls
this function directly.
The return value is a new reference to the imported module or top-level package,
or *NULL* with an exception set on failure. Like for :func:`__import__`,
the return value when a submodule of a package was requested is normally the
top-level package, unless a non-empty *fromlist* was given.
.. versionadded:: 3.3
.. c:function:: PyObject* PyImport_ImportModuleLevel(const char *name, PyObject *globals, PyObject *locals, PyObject *fromlist, int level)
Similar to :c:func:`PyImport_ImportModuleLevelObject`, but the name is a
UTF-8 encoded string instead of a Unicode object.
.. versionchanged:: 3.3
Negative values for *level* are no longer accepted.
.. c:function:: PyObject* PyImport_Import(PyObject *name)
This is a higher-level interface that calls the current "import hook
function" (with an explicit *level* of 0, meaning absolute import). It
invokes the :func:`__import__` function from the ``__builtins__`` of the
current globals. This means that the import is done using whatever import
hooks are installed in the current environment.
This function always uses absolute imports.
.. c:function:: PyObject* PyImport_ReloadModule(PyObject *m)
Reload a module. Return a new reference to the reloaded module, or *NULL* with
an exception set on failure (the module still exists in this case).
.. c:function:: PyObject* PyImport_AddModuleObject(PyObject *name)
Return the module object corresponding to a module name. The *name* argument
may be of the form ``package.module``. First check the modules dictionary if
there's one there, and if not, create a new one and insert it in the modules
dictionary. Return *NULL* with an exception set on failure.
.. note::
This function does not load or import the module; if the module wasn't already
loaded, you will get an empty module object. Use :c:func:`PyImport_ImportModule`
or one of its variants to import a module. Package structures implied by a
dotted name for *name* are not created if not already present.
.. versionadded:: 3.3
.. c:function:: PyObject* PyImport_AddModule(const char *name)
Similar to :c:func:`PyImport_AddModuleObject`, but the name is a UTF-8
encoded string instead of a Unicode object.
.. c:function:: PyObject* PyImport_ExecCodeModule(const char *name, PyObject *co)
.. index:: builtin: compile
Given a module name (possibly of the form ``package.module``) and a code object
read from a Python bytecode file or obtained from the built-in function
:func:`compile`, load the module. Return a new reference to the module object,
or *NULL* with an exception set if an error occurred. *name*
is removed from :attr:`sys.modules` in error cases, even if *name* was already
in :attr:`sys.modules` on entry to :c:func:`PyImport_ExecCodeModule`. Leaving
incompletely initialized modules in :attr:`sys.modules` is dangerous, as imports of
such modules have no way to know that the module object is an unknown (and
probably damaged with respect to the module author's intents) state.
The module's :attr:`__spec__` and :attr:`__loader__` will be set, if
not set already, with the appropriate values. The spec's loader will
be set to the module's ``__loader__`` (if set) and to an instance of
:class:`SourceFileLoader` otherwise.
The module's :attr:`__file__` attribute will be set to the code object's
:c:member:`co_filename`. If applicable, :attr:`__cached__` will also
be set.
This function will reload the module if it was already imported. See
:c:func:`PyImport_ReloadModule` for the intended way to reload a module.
If *name* points to a dotted name of the form ``package.module``, any package
structures not already created will still not be created.
See also :c:func:`PyImport_ExecCodeModuleEx` and
:c:func:`PyImport_ExecCodeModuleWithPathnames`.
.. c:function:: PyObject* PyImport_ExecCodeModuleEx(const char *name, PyObject *co, const char *pathname)
Like :c:func:`PyImport_ExecCodeModule`, but the :attr:`__file__` attribute of
the module object is set to *pathname* if it is non-``NULL``.
See also :c:func:`PyImport_ExecCodeModuleWithPathnames`.
.. c:function:: PyObject* PyImport_ExecCodeModuleObject(PyObject *name, PyObject *co, PyObject *pathname, PyObject *cpathname)
Like :c:func:`PyImport_ExecCodeModuleEx`, but the :attr:`__cached__`
attribute of the module object is set to *cpathname* if it is
non-``NULL``. Of the three functions, this is the preferred one to use.
.. versionadded:: 3.3
.. c:function:: PyObject* PyImport_ExecCodeModuleWithPathnames(const char *name, PyObject *co, const char *pathname, const char *cpathname)
Like :c:func:`PyImport_ExecCodeModuleObject`, but *name*, *pathname* and
*cpathname* are UTF-8 encoded strings. Attempts are also made to figure out
what the value for *pathname* should be from *cpathname* if the former is
set to ``NULL``.
.. versionadded:: 3.2
.. versionchanged:: 3.3
Uses :func:`imp.source_from_cache()` in calculating the source path if
only the bytecode path is provided.
.. c:function:: long PyImport_GetMagicNumber()
Return the magic number for Python bytecode files (a.k.a. :file:`.pyc` file).
The magic number should be present in the first four bytes of the bytecode
file, in little-endian byte order. Returns ``-1`` on error.
.. versionchanged:: 3.3
Return value of ``-1`` upon failure.
.. c:function:: const char * PyImport_GetMagicTag()
Return the magic tag string for :pep:`3147` format Python bytecode file
names. Keep in mind that the value at ``sys.implementation.cache_tag`` is
authoritative and should be used instead of this function.
.. versionadded:: 3.2
.. c:function:: PyObject* PyImport_GetModuleDict()
Return the dictionary used for the module administration (a.k.a.
``sys.modules``). Note that this is a per-interpreter variable.
.. c:function:: PyObject* PyImport_GetModule(PyObject *name)
Return the already imported module with the given name. If the
module has not been imported yet then returns NULL but does not set
an error. Returns NULL and sets an error if the lookup failed.
.. versionadded:: 3.7
.. c:function:: PyObject* PyImport_GetImporter(PyObject *path)
Return a finder object for a :data:`sys.path`/:attr:`pkg.__path__` item
*path*, possibly by fetching it from the :data:`sys.path_importer_cache`
dict. If it wasn't yet cached, traverse :data:`sys.path_hooks` until a hook
is found that can handle the path item. Return ``None`` if no hook could;
this tells our caller that the :term:`path based finder` could not find a
finder for this path item. Cache the result in :data:`sys.path_importer_cache`.
Return a new reference to the finder object.
.. c:function:: void _PyImport_Init()
Initialize the import mechanism. For internal use only.
.. c:function:: void PyImport_Cleanup()
Empty the module table. For internal use only.
.. c:function:: void _PyImport_Fini()
Finalize the import mechanism. For internal use only.
.. c:function:: int PyImport_ImportFrozenModuleObject(PyObject *name)
Load a frozen module named *name*. Return ``1`` for success, ``0`` if the
module is not found, and ``-1`` with an exception set if the initialization
failed. To access the imported module on a successful load, use
:c:func:`PyImport_ImportModule`. (Note the misnomer --- this function would
reload the module if it was already imported.)
.. versionadded:: 3.3
.. versionchanged:: 3.4
The ``__file__`` attribute is no longer set on the module.
.. c:function:: int PyImport_ImportFrozenModule(const char *name)
Similar to :c:func:`PyImport_ImportFrozenModuleObject`, but the name is a
UTF-8 encoded string instead of a Unicode object.
.. c:type:: struct _frozen
.. index:: single: freeze utility
This is the structure type definition for frozen module descriptors, as
generated by the :program:`freeze` utility (see :file:`Tools/freeze/` in the
Python source distribution). Its definition, found in :file:`Include/import.h`,
is::
struct _frozen {
const char *name;
const unsigned char *code;
int size;
};
.. c:var:: const struct _frozen* PyImport_FrozenModules
This pointer is initialized to point to an array of :c:type:`struct _frozen`
records, terminated by one whose members are all *NULL* or zero. When a frozen
module is imported, it is searched in this table. Third-party code could play
tricks with this to provide a dynamically created collection of frozen modules.
.. c:function:: int PyImport_AppendInittab(const char *name, PyObject* (*initfunc)(void))
Add a single module to the existing table of built-in modules. This is a
convenience wrapper around :c:func:`PyImport_ExtendInittab`, returning ``-1`` if
the table could not be extended. The new module can be imported by the name
*name*, and uses the function *initfunc* as the initialization function called
on the first attempted import. This should be called before
:c:func:`Py_Initialize`.
.. c:type:: struct _inittab
Structure describing a single entry in the list of built-in modules. Each of
these structures gives the name and initialization function for a module built
into the interpreter. The name is an ASCII encoded string. Programs which
embed Python may use an array of these structures in conjunction with
:c:func:`PyImport_ExtendInittab` to provide additional built-in modules.
The structure is defined in :file:`Include/import.h` as::
struct _inittab {
const char *name; /* ASCII encoded string */
PyObject* (*initfunc)(void);
};
.. c:function:: int PyImport_ExtendInittab(struct _inittab *newtab)
Add a collection of modules to the table of built-in modules. The *newtab*
array must end with a sentinel entry which contains *NULL* for the :attr:`name`
field; failure to provide the sentinel value can result in a memory fault.
Returns ``0`` on success or ``-1`` if insufficient memory could be allocated to
extend the internal table. In the event of failure, no modules are added to the
internal table. This should be called before :c:func:`Py_Initialize`.