Is a Scripts directory an anti-pattern in Python? If so, what's the right way to import?

Question

I\'ve always created scripts directories in every project I\'ve built because they\'re useful for putting infrequently used executable scripts. In Python, I\'ll always put an

Answer 1

Personally, having a __init__.py in one's scripts dir feels a bit off, but I can also see why it's useful here (and in IDEs).

That said, if they're already being run as a Python module, then maybe they're not true scripts, whatever that even means (related: do you have a shebang on these files?). Hard to say without context, but perhaps they are closer to tools modules, forming part of your overall Python codebase.

In which case, with the addition of an __init__.py at project level (project_dir in your example), you can then use normal importing in your would-be scripts:

from some_modules_dir import foo

meaning that your original python -m scripts.some_script makes absolute (sorry) sense...