As a basic example, consider the following two scripts:
# file one.py
def func():
print("func() in one.py")
print("top-level in one.py")
if __name__ == "__main__":
print("one.py is being run directly")
else:
print("one.py is being imported into another module")
# file two.py
import one
print("top-level in two.py")
one.func()
if __name__ == "__main__":
print("two.py is being run directly")
else:
print("two.py is being imported into another module")
Now, if you invoke the interpreter as
python one.py
The output will be
top-level in one.py
one.py is being run directly
If you run two.py
instead:
python two.py
You get
top-level in one.py
one.py is being imported into another module
top-level in two.py
func() in one.py
two.py is being run directly
Thus, when module one
gets loaded, its __name__
equals "one"
instead of __main__
.