Sorry, forgot to use "reply to all"
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: André Roberge
On Sat, Nov 14, 2020 at 08:10:44AM -0400, André Roberge wrote:
What if you import the `__main__` module? What does `__imported__` say now, and how do you check for "running as a script" if `__main__` has imported itself -- or some other module has imported it?
Running a module (no matter what its name is) from a command line would set __imported__ to False for that module. Using import some_module (or __import__("some_module")) would set some_module.__imported__ to True.
Do you understand that a module can be both run and imported at the same time?
# example.py import __main__ print(__main__.__file__)
As others have mentioned, many beginners are thoroughly confused by the meaning of the idiom
if __name__ == "__main__": ... The idea behind the name __imported__ (and, I gather, somewhat similar to the original suggestion of __main__ that started this thread) is to reduce such confusion. For what I had in mind, the semantic would be the same as though the following was inserted at the top of the module: __imported__ = True if __name__ == "__main__": __imported__ = False André
If you save that snippet as "example.py", and then run it:
python3 example.py
you have an example of a module that is being run and imported simultaneously.
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