Python3: Attempted relative import in non-package

Question

I\'m so sorry about this basic question, because it\'s similar to this: Stumped by relative imports

But I\'m trying to follow the PEP328 http://www.python.org/dev/pe

Answer 1

You cannot use a script within a package; you are running test, not test.test. A top-level script can thus not use relative imports.

If you wanted to run a package as a script, you'd need to move test/test.py to testpackage/__main__.py, move one directory up in your shell to ~/Desktop and tell python to run a package with python -m testpackage.

Demo:

$ ls testpackage/
__init__.py   __main__.py   __pycache__   controller.py
$ cat testpackage/controller.py 
class Controller:
    def __init__(self):
        pass

$ cat testpackage/__init__.py 
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-

$ cat testpackage/__main__.py 
from .controller import Controller
if __name__ == '__main__':
    print('running...')

$ python3.3 -m testpackage
running...

You cannot name the package test; Python already has such a package for the test suite and that'll be found before a package in the current working dir is found.

The alternative is to create a script outside of the package and import the package from the script.