| Python 3.6.5 Documentation > "zipimport" — Import modules from Zip archives
"zipimport" — Import modules from Zip archives
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This module adds the ability to import Python modules ("*.py",
"*.pyc") and packages from ZIP-format archives. It is usually not
needed to use the "zipimport" module explicitly; it is automatically
used by the built-in "import" mechanism for "sys.path" items that are
paths to ZIP archives.
Typically, "sys.path" is a list of directory names as strings. This
module also allows an item of "sys.path" to be a string naming a ZIP
file archive. The ZIP archive can contain a subdirectory structure to
support package imports, and a path within the archive can be
specified to only import from a subdirectory. For example, the path
"example.zip/lib/" would only import from the "lib/" subdirectory
within the archive.
Any files may be present in the ZIP archive, but only files ".py" and
".pyc" are available for import. ZIP import of dynamic modules
(".pyd", ".so") is disallowed. Note that if an archive only contains
".py" files, Python will not attempt to modify the archive by adding
the corresponding ".pyc" file, meaning that if a ZIP archive doesn’t
contain ".pyc" files, importing may be rather slow.
ZIP archives with an archive comment are currently not supported.
See also:
PKZIP Application Note
Documentation on the ZIP file format by Phil Katz, the creator of
the format and algorithms used.
**PEP 273** - Import Modules from Zip Archives
Written by James C. Ahlstrom, who also provided an
implementation. Python 2.3 follows the specification in PEP 273,
but uses an implementation written by Just van Rossum that uses
the import hooks described in PEP 302.
**PEP 302** - New Import Hooks
The PEP to add the import hooks that help this module work.
This module defines an exception:
exception zipimport.ZipImportError
Exception raised by zipimporter objects. It’s a subclass of
"ImportError", so it can be caught as "ImportError", too.
zipimporter Objects
===================
"zipimporter" is the class for importing ZIP files.
class zipimport.zipimporter(archivepath)
Create a new zipimporter instance. *archivepath* must be a path to
a ZIP file, or to a specific path within a ZIP file. For example,
an *archivepath* of "foo/bar.zip/lib" will look for modules in the
"lib" directory inside the ZIP file "foo/bar.zip" (provided that it
exists).
"ZipImportError" is raised if *archivepath* doesn’t point to a
valid ZIP archive.
find_module(fullname[, path])
Search for a module specified by *fullname*. *fullname* must be
the fully qualified (dotted) module name. It returns the
zipimporter instance itself if the module was found, or "None"
if it wasn’t. The optional *path* argument is ignored—it’s there
for compatibility with the importer protocol.
get_code(fullname)
Return the code object for the specified module. Raise
"ZipImportError" if the module couldn’t be found.
get_data(pathname)
Return the data associated with *pathname*. Raise "OSError" if
the file wasn’t found.
Changed in version 3.3: "IOError" used to be raised instead of
"OSError".
get_filename(fullname)
Return the value "__file__" would be set to if the specified
module was imported. Raise "ZipImportError" if the module
couldn’t be found.
New in version 3.1.
get_source(fullname)
Return the source code for the specified module. Raise
"ZipImportError" if the module couldn’t be found, return "None"
if the archive does contain the module, but has no source for
it.
is_package(fullname)
Return "True" if the module specified by *fullname* is a
package. Raise "ZipImportError" if the module couldn’t be found.
load_module(fullname)
Load the module specified by *fullname*. *fullname* must be the
fully qualified (dotted) module name. It returns the imported
module, or raises "ZipImportError" if it wasn’t found.
archive
The file name of the importer’s associated ZIP file, without a
possible subpath.
prefix
The subpath within the ZIP file where modules are searched.
This is the empty string for zipimporter objects which point to
the root of the ZIP file.
The "archive" and "prefix" attributes, when combined with a slash,
equal the original *archivepath* argument given to the
"zipimporter" constructor.
Examples
========
Here is an example that imports a module from a ZIP archive - note
that the "zipimport" module is not explicitly used.
$ unzip -l example.zip
Archive: example.zip
Length Date Time Name
-------- ---- ---- ----
8467 11-26-02 22:30 jwzthreading.py
-------- -------
8467 1 file
$ ./python
Python 2.3 (#1, Aug 1 2003, 19:54:32)
>>> import sys
>>> sys.path.insert(0, 'example.zip') # Add .zip file to front of path
>>> import jwzthreading
>>> jwzthreading.__file__
'example.zip/jwzthreading.py'
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