How do I unload (reload) a Python module?

Question

I have a long-running Python server and would like to be able to upgrade a service without restarting the server. What\'s the best way do do this?

if foo.py          


        

Answer 1

The accepted answer doesn't handle the from X import Y case. This code handles it and the standard import case as well:

def importOrReload(module_name, *names):
    import sys

    if module_name in sys.modules:
        reload(sys.modules[module_name])
    else:
        __import__(module_name, fromlist=names)

    for name in names:
        globals()[name] = getattr(sys.modules[module_name], name)

# use instead of: from dfly_parser import parseMessages
importOrReload("dfly_parser", "parseMessages")

In the reloading case, we reassign the top level names to the values stored in the newly reloaded module, which updates them.