How can I import a python module function dynamically?

Question

Assuming my_function() is located in my_apps.views I would like to import my_function dynamically without using something like exec or

Answer 1

you want

my_function = getattr(__import__('my_apps.views'), 'my_function')

If you happen to know the name of the function at compile time, you can shorten this to

my_function = __import__('my_apps.views').my_function

This will load my_apps.views and then assign its my_function attribute to the local my_function.

If you are sure that you only want one function, than this is acceptable. If you want more than one attribute, you can do:

views = __import__('my_apps.views')
my_function = getattr(views, 'my_function')
my_other_function = getattr(views, 'my_other_function')
my_attribute = getattr(views, 'my_attribute')

as it is more readable and saves you some calls to __import__. again, if you know the names, the code can be shortened as above.

You could also do this with tools from the imp module but it's more complicated.