Importing modules from parent folder

Question

I am running Python 2.5.

This is my folder tree:

ptdraft/
  nib.py
  simulations/
    life/
      life.py

(I also have __init

Answer 1

Relative imports (as in from .. import mymodule) only work in a package. To import 'mymodule' that is in the parent directory of your current module:

import os,sys,inspect
currentdir = os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(inspect.getfile(inspect.currentframe())))
parentdir = os.path.dirname(currentdir)
sys.path.insert(0,parentdir) 

import mymodule

edit: the __file__ attribute is not always given. Instead of using os.path.abspath(__file__) I now suggested using the inspect module to retrieve the filename (and path) of the current file