What is __init__.py file in Python

Understand why __init__ file exists in Python packages.

This article explains why the __init__.py file exists in Python packages.

#more

There are two types of packages in python, regular and namespace packages. The former requires __init__.py file whereas the latter does not. Any directory with an init python file is marked as a package by python and can be imported.

Whenever a package is imported using the import keyword or the from x import y syntax the init file is run implicitly. Generally, this file is kept empty but it can be used to achieve the following things:

• Import submodules
• Initialize top-level objects/variables (logger, database connections, configurations)

Working with __init__.py file¶

First, let's create a directory named my_package and add a new file __init__.py with this content

print("my_package is imported")

With this setup, we can now test if my_package can be imported using the following script

import my_package

Output:

my_package is imported

As we can see, as soon as my_package was imported the init file was run. Similarly, several submodules can be created with their own __init__.py file. For example

my_package/
├── __init__.py
├── sub_package_1
│   └── __init__.py
├── sub_package_2
│   └── __init__.py
└── sub_package_3
    └── __init__.py

3 directories, 4 files

Similar content is written into all init files as in the my_package init file. We can then import all submodules

from my_package import sub_package_1, sub_package_2, sub_package_3

Output:

my_package is imported
sub_package_1 is imported
sub_package_2 is imported
sub_package_3 is imported