Circular (or cyclic) imports in Python

Question

What will happen if two modules import each other?

To generalize the problem, what about the cyclic imports in Python?

Answer 1

Ok, I think I have a pretty cool solution. Let's say you have file a and file b. You have a def or a class in file b that you want to use in module a, but you have something else, either a def, class, or variable from file a that you need in your definition or class in file b. What you can do is, at the bottom of file a, after calling the function or class in file a that is needed in file b, but before calling the function or class from file b that you need for file a, say import b Then, and here is the key part, in all of the definitions or classes in file b that need the def or class from file a (let's call it CLASS), you say from a import CLASS

This works because you can import file b without Python executing any of the import statements in file b, and thus you elude any circular imports.

For example:

File a:

class A(object):

     def __init__(self, name):

         self.name = name

CLASS = A("me")

import b

go = B(6)

go.dostuff

File b:

class B(object):

     def __init__(self, number):

         self.number = number

     def dostuff(self):

         from a import CLASS

         print "Hello " + CLASS.name + ", " + str(number) + " is an interesting number."

Voila.