Import: Using Non-Builtin Functions
Modules
Python contains many functions, but not all of them are immediately available as builtin functions. Instead of being available as builtins, some functions are saved in different modules. A module is a file containing function definitions and other statements.
We may also define our own modules with our own functions.
import
In order to gain access to the functions in a module, we must import that module.
The general form of an import statement is:
import module_name
To access a function within a module, we use:
module_name.function_name
For example, we can import the Python module math
and call the function sqrt
from it:
import math
def area2(side1, side2, side3):
semi = semiperimeter(side1, side2, side3)
area = math.sqrt(semi * (semi - side1) * (semi - side2) * (semi - side3))
return area
In addition to importing Python's modules, we can also import the modules that we write. For example, to use the functions from triangle.py
(from the video) in another module, we would import triangle
. A module being imported should be in the same directory as the module importing it.