import — Advanced Playground

Loads a module or package into the current namespace

Python Playground

import importlib

# Import a module by name string
mod_name = "json"
mod = importlib.import_module(mod_name)
print(mod.dumps({"dynamic": True}))

# Reload a module
importlib.reload(mod)

# Check if a module is available
def is_available(name):
    try:
        importlib.import_module(name)
        return True
    except ImportError:
        return False

for pkg in ["json", "numpy", "nonexistent_pkg"]:
    print(f"{pkg}: {is_available(pkg)}")

Output

Click "Run" to execute your code

importlib lets you import modules by string name, which is useful for plugin systems and optional dependencies.

Challenge

Try modifying the code above to explore different behaviors. Can you extend the example to handle a new use case?

View all Advanced examples for import