How to properly use relative or absolute imports in Python modules?

Question

Usage of relative imports in Python has one drawback, you will not be able to run the modules as standalones anymore because you will get an exception: ValueError: Att

Answer 1

You could just start 'to run the modules as standalones' in a bit a different way:

Instead of:

python foo/bar.py

Use:

python -mfoo.bar

Of course, the foo/__init__.py file must be present.

Please also note, that you have a circular dependency between foo.py and bar.py – this won't work. I guess it is just a mistake in your example.

Update: it seems it also works perfectly well to use this as the first line of the foo/bar.py:

#!/usr/bin/python -mfoo.bar

Then you can execute the script directly in POSIX systems.