Import a Python module — import • reticulate

Import the specified Python module, making it available for use from R.

import(module, as = NULL, convert = TRUE, delay_load = FALSE)

import_main(convert = TRUE, delay_load = FALSE)

import_builtins(convert = TRUE, delay_load = FALSE)

import_from_path(module, path = ".", convert = TRUE, delay_load = FALSE)

Arguments

module: The name of the Python module.
as: An alias for module name (affects names of R classes). Note that this is an advanced parameter that should generally only be used in package development (since it affects the S3 name of the imported class and can therefore interfere with S3 method dispatching).
convert: Boolean; should Python objects be automatically converted to their R equivalent? If set to FALSE, you can still manually convert Python objects to R via the py_to_r() function.
delay_load: Boolean; delay loading the module until it is first used? When FALSE, the module will be loaded immediately. See Delay Load for advanced usages.
path: The path from which the module should be imported.

Value

An R object wrapping a Python module. Module attributes can be accessed via the $ operator, or via py_get_attr().

Python Built-ins

Python's built-in functions (e.g. len()) can be accessed via Python's built-in module. Because the name of this module has changed between Python 2 and Python 3, we provide the function import_builtins() to abstract over that name change.

Delay Load

The delay_load parameter accepts a variety of inputs. If you just need to ensure your module is lazy-loaded (e.g. because you are a package author and want to avoid initializing Python before the user has explicitly requested it), then passing TRUE is normally the right choice.

You can also provide a named list: "before_load", "on_load" and "on_error" can be functions , which act as callbacks to be run when the module is later loaded. "environment" can be a character vector of preferred python environment names to search for and use. For example:

delay_load = list(

  # run before the module is loaded
  before_load = function() { ... }

  # run immediately after the module is loaded
  on_load = function() { ... }

  # run if an error occurs during module import
  on_error = function(error) { ... }

  environment = c("r-preferred-venv1", "r-preferred-venv2")
)

Alternatively, if you supply only a single function, that will be treated as an on_load handler.

Import from Path

import_from_path() can be used in you need to import a module from an arbitrary filesystem path. This is most commonly used when importing modules bundled with an R package – for example:

path <- system.file("python", package = <package>)
reticulate::import_from_path(<module>, path = path, delay_load = TRUE)

Examples

if (FALSE) { # \dontrun{
main <- import_main()
sys <- import("sys")
} # }