A Beginner’s Guide to Importing in Python

Learn to use the ‘import’, ‘from’, and ‘as’ commands

Photo by Marcin Jozwiak on Unsplash

Importing modules is a critical skill when learning Python. To keep the language lightweight and fast, only a small core is available by default in any given Python script — you as the author are expected to then import whatever else is needed.

There are three main commands when adding modules to your Python code: import, from, and as.

We’ll go over each of these, but first let’s define what it is we’re actually importing.

What Can You Import?

The terminology can get confusing, especially when learning from multiple sources, so here’s a quick list of what can be imported and what they’re called.

• Module: simply a file with a .py extension.
• Package: a directory containing an __init__.py file and normally other modules.
• Built-in Module: A module that is natively installed with Python.
• Object: Anything inside a module/package that can be referenced such as a class, function, or variable.

Don’t get too caught up in the terminology. Just know that we’ll predominately be importing built-in modules or downloaded packages. Since object is such a…