How to modify imported source code on-the-fly?

Question

Suppose I have a module file like this:

# my_module.py
print(\"hello\")

Then I have a simple script:

# my_script.py
import          


        

Answer 1

If importing the module before the patching it is okay, then a possible solution would be

import inspect

import my_module

source = inspect.getsource(my_module)
new_source = source.replace('"hello"', '"world"')
exec(new_source, my_module.__dict__)

If you're after a more general solution, then you can also take a look at the approach I used in another answer a while ago.