Where is module being imported from?

Question

Assuming I have two Python modules and path_b is in the import path:

# file: path_b/my_module.py
print \"I was imported from ???\"

#file: path_a/app.py
impo         


        

Answer 1

I've written a simple script so I have the command pywhich that allows me to find where a Python module comes from. It doesn't work for some builtins like sys which doesn't have a \__file__ attribute.

This can be run from a Linux command line to find where a python script run in the current environment will get a module from, for example:

% pywhich os

---

#! /usr/bin/env python
def pywhich(module_name):
    module = __import__(module_name, globals(), locals(), [], 0)
    return module.__file__

if __name__ == "__main__":
    import sys
    print(pywhich(sys.argv[1]))