module documentation
(source)

This module aims to provide a unified, object-oriented view of Python's runtime hierarchy.

Python is a very dynamic language with wide variety of introspection utilities. However, these utilities can be hard to use, because there is no consistent API. The introspection API in python is made up of attributes (__name__, __module__, func_name, etc) on instances, modules, classes and functions which vary between those four types, utility modules such as 'inspect' which provide some functionality, the 'imp' module, the "compiler" module, the semantics of PEP 302 support, and setuptools, among other things.

At the top, you have "PythonPath", an abstract representation of sys.path which includes methods to locate top-level modules, with or without loading them. The top-level exposed functions in this module for accessing the system path are "walkModules", "iterModules", and "getModule".

From most to least specific, here are the objects provided:

                  PythonPath  # sys.path
                      |
                      v
                  PathEntry   # one entry on sys.path: an importer
                      |
                      v
                 PythonModule # a module or package that can be loaded
                      |
                      v
                 PythonAttribute # an attribute of a module (function or class)
                      |
                      v
                 PythonAttribute # an attribute of a function or class
                      |
                      v
                     ...

Here's an example of idiomatic usage: this is what you would do to list all of the modules outside the standard library's python-files directory:

    import os
    stdlibdir = os.path.dirname(os.__file__)

    from twisted.python.modules import iterModules

    for modinfo in iterModules():
        if (modinfo.pathEntry.filePath.path != stdlibdir
            and not modinfo.isPackage()):
            print('unpackaged: %s: %s' % (
                modinfo.name, modinfo.filePath.path))
Interface ​IPath​Import​Mapper This is an internal interface, used to map importers to factories for FilePath-like objects.
Class ​Path​Entry I am a proxy for a single entry on sys.path.
Class ​Python​Attribute I represent a function, class, or other object that is present.
Class ​Python​Module Representation of a module which could be imported from sys.path.
Class ​Python​Path I represent the very top of the Python object-space, the module list in sys.path and the modules list in sys.modules.
Function get​Module Retrieve a module from the system path.
Function iter​Modules Iterate all modules and top-level packages on the global Python path, but do not descend into packages.
Function walk​Modules Deeply iterate all modules on the global python path.
Constant OPTIMIZED​_MODE Undocumented
Constant PYTHON​_EXTENSIONS Undocumented
Variable the​System​Path The very top of the Python object space.
Class _​Default​Map​Impl Wrapper for the default importer, i.e. None.
Class _​Module​Iterator​Helper This mixin provides common behavior between python module and path entries, since the mechanism for searching sys.path and __path__ attributes is remarkably similar.
Class _​Zip​Map​Impl IPathImportMapper implementation for zipimport.ZipImporter.
Function _default​Sys​Path​Factory Provide the default behavior of PythonPath's sys.path factory, which is to return the current value of sys.path.
Function _is​Package​Path Undocumented
Function _is​Python​Identifier cheezy fake test for proper identifier-ness.
Variable _nothing Undocumented
Variable _the​Default​Mapper Undocumented
def getModule(moduleName): (source)
Retrieve a module from the system path.
def iterModules(): (source)
Iterate all modules and top-level packages on the global Python path, but do not descend into packages.
def walkModules(importPackages=False): (source)
Deeply iterate all modules on the global python path.
Parameters
import​PackagesImport packages as they are seen.
OPTIMIZED_MODE = (source)

Undocumented

Value
(__doc__ is None)
PYTHON_EXTENSIONS: list[str] = (source)

Undocumented

Value
['.py']
theSystemPath: PythonPath = (source)
The very top of the Python object space.
def _defaultSysPathFactory(): (source)
Provide the default behavior of PythonPath's sys.path factory, which is to return the current value of sys.path.
Returns
sys.path
def _isPackagePath(fpath): (source)

Undocumented

def _isPythonIdentifier(string): (source)
cheezy fake test for proper identifier-ness.
Parameters
stringa str which might or might not be a valid python identifier.
Returns
True or False
_nothing = (source)

Undocumented

_theDefaultMapper = (source)

Undocumented