How do I check if a directory is a python package?

Question

If I want to check whether a directory is a python package, is it enough to check whether a directory contains a __init__.py file?

Is there any reason you could not do the "ask forgiveness not permission" thing here? So you would go `try: from foo import bar` and `except: ...` — Roy Prins, Aug 16 '17 at 21:58
@RoyPrins I'm writing a command line tool to treats a directory as a project for my tool and I need to find the directories in there that python packages, so my tool know which packages it can use. Trying to import every directory seemed a bit unsafe since I could accidentally import a package with the same name as a non-package directory. — Aaron de Windt, Aug 16 '17 at 22:04
I'm adding the project root directory at the front of sys.path — Aaron de Windt, Aug 16 '17 at 22:06

vaultah · Accepted Answer · 2017-08-16T22:06:34.777

4

Before Python 3.3, only directories containing __init__.py files were considered packages (see regular package in Glossary).

Since the addition of namespace packages in Python 3.3, every directory is a Python package, technically.

edited Aug 16 '17 at 22:06

answered Aug 16 '17 at 22:01

vaultah

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 16 '17 at 21:57

Based on the documentation:

The __init__.py files are required to make Python treat the directories as containing packages

Update

Based on the answer here: Is __init__.py not required for packages in Python 3? You can see that it's no longer a requirement.