Python, import string of Python code as module

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In python you can do something like this to import a module using a string filename, and assign its namespace a variable on the local namespace.

x = __import__(str)

I'm wondering if there is a related function that will take take a string of Python code, instead of a path to a file with Python code, and return its namespace as a variable.

For example,

str = "a = 5";
x = importstr(str)
print x.a
#output is 5

I realize that I could write the string to a file, then use __import__ on it, but I'd like to skip the intermediate file if possible.

The reason for this is that I'm experimenting with metaprogramming in python, and it seems like a good solution to what I'm doing.

metaprogramming python
5 Answers

types.ModuleType is not recommended according to Python documentation on module_from_spec():

importlib.util.module_from_spec(spec)

...

This function is preferred over using types.ModuleType to create a new module as spec is used to set as many import-controlled attributes on the module as possible.

Here is what I came up with to load the module from source code.

import importlib.util
spec = importlib.util.spec_from_loader('helper', loader=None)
helper = importlib.util.module_from_spec(spec)
exec('a = 5', helper.__dict__)

print(type(helper)) # prints "<class 'module'>"
helper.a # prints "5"
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