Python: what does “import” prefer - modules or packages?

Question

Suppose in the current directory there is a file named somecode.py, and a directory named somecode which contains an __init__.py file. Now I run some other Python script from this directory which executes import somecode. Which file will be imported - somecode.py or somecode/__init__.py?

Is there even a defined and reliable search order in which this is resolved?

Oh, and does anyone have a reference to official documentation for this behavior? :-)

Answer 1

Packages will be imported before modules. Illustrated:

% tree .
.
|-- foo
|   |-- __init__.py
|   `-- __init__.pyc
`-- foo.py

foo.py:

% cat foo.py 
print 'you have imported foo.py'

foo/__init__.py:

% cat foo/__init__.py
print 'you have imported foo/__init__.py'

And from interactive interpreter:

>>> import foo
you have imported foo/__init__.py

I have no idea where this is officially documented.

Edit per comment: This was performed with Python 2.7 on Mac OS X 10.6.7. I also performed this using Python 2.6.5 on Ubuntu 10.10 and experienced the same result.

Answer 2

tested in Windows 10 (Python version 3.5) and on Ubuntu Linux (Python version 2.7 and 3.5) using the following directory:

https://github.com/alphaCTzo7G/stackexchange/tree/master/python/order_import_module_vs_package

Result

The module is always loaded and the following message is printed out every time:

"you have imported foo/init.py"

So it seems to be consistent across these Systems, that the package is loaded first.