python import module from a package

Question

folder structure:

   main.py
   packages 
      __init__.py
      mod.py

main py:

Answer 1

you can load the modules inside the same packages directly. The following code works and it loads all the modules inside mod.py.

Inside __init__.py

from mod import *
print hello()

Efficient import - loads only hello function

from mod import hello
print hello()

In your code, from packages import * you are telling the interpreter to look for a modules inside packages(in the same directory as __init__.py). But it does not exist there. It exist one directory above the __init__.py. (I suspect my terminologies are wrong)

Here is a reference that explains how to load the containing package itself.

FOUND IT

It was very interesting to read about python import mechanisms. Ref1 Ref2 Ref3

Apparently the parent modules is loaded first. For example, Ref3 states that, the code import mod inside __init__.py is automatically interpreted as packages.mod. Now I have to find out what happens if you write import packages.mod. Ref1 is more up-to-date with python3 conventions. Refer it for more info. Hope this helps you.