View source for Python Module Internal Representation and Introspection

=Internal=
* [[Python_Introspection#Module_Internal_Representation_and_Introspection|Python Introspection]]
* [[Python_Language_Modularization#Module_Internal_Representation_and_Introspection|Python Language Modularization]]

=Overview=

=The <tt>module</tt> Class=

All [[Python_Language_Modularization#Module_Internal_Representation_and_Introspection|module]] and [[Python_Language_Modularization#Package_Internal_Representation_and_Introspection|package]] instances are represented internally as instances of the <code>module</code> class.

==Attributes==

All object instances declared in the module (variables, functions, etc.) become attributes of the module instance and they are accessible with <code>[[Python_Introspection#Introspect_Members_of_an_Object_Instance|inspect.getmembers()]]</code>. Additionally, the following special attributes are present:

===<tt>__file__</tt>===
Once imported, the file associated with the module can be determined using the module object's <code>__file__</code> attribute:
<syntaxhighlight lang='python'>
import mymodule
[...]
print(mymodule.__file__)
</syntaxhighlight>
The directory portion of <code>__file__</code> should be one of the directories in <code>[[Python_Language_Modularization#sys.path|sys.path]]</code>.

===<tt>__path__</tt>===
The <code>__path__</code> attribute exists only for <code>module</code> instances that represent [[Python_Language_Modularization#Package|packages]], not for those instances that represent ordinary [[Python_Language_Modularization#Modules|modules]].

<code>__path__</code> contains the path of the package root directory, where the component modules, [[Python_Language_Modularization#Subpackages|subpackages]], <code>[[Python_Language_Modularization#init_.py|__init__.py]]</code> and <code>[[Python_Language_Modularization#main_.py|__main__.py]]</code> live.