The post above gives a very helpful suggestion of how to reload modules while working on a script, but I have a question.

Question

I can only get modules to reload on the second time I run a script.

For example, here's a project setup:

myScript
├── __init__.py
├── myScript.py
└── helpers
    ├── __init__.py
    └── myScriptHelper.py

myScriptHelper.py looks like this:

def testReload():
    print("hello, I'm reloaded")

And myScript.py looks like this:

import importlib
import helpers
from helpers.myScriptHelper import *

print("hello from myScript")

importlib.reload(helpers.myScriptHelper)
testReload()

So, I would expect to see "hello, I'm reloaded" in the Output Window when I run myScript.py. However, I'm finding that I only end up seeing updates to myScriptHelper.py on the second time I run myScript.py after making any changes.

Example

I run myScript.py. In the Output, I see this:

hello from myScript
hello, I'm reloaded

Next, I change myScriptHelper.py to this:

def testReload():
    print("hello, I'm REALLY reloaded")

However, when I run myScript.py again, I see the same output again:

hello from myScript
hello, I'm reloaded
hello from myScript
hello, I'm reloaded

It's only when I run myScript.py again a second time that I see the output of the updated module:

hello from myScript
hello, I'm reloaded
hello from myScript
hello, I'm reloaded
hello from myScript
hello, I'm REALLY reloaded

Have I missed a step, or is it expected that it should take two runs of a script for importlib.reload() to take effect?

Thanks for any help here! I know this is a tiny question, but I'm trying to learn how to do the little things right so I can be more effective overall. :)

to update a module you need to reload it before you import stuff from it:

import importlib
import helpers.myScriptHelper
importlib.reload(helpers.myScriptHelper)

from helpers.myScriptHelper import *

print("hello from myScript")
testReload()

also, unless you wish to run some code when the module is imported, you don’t really need to include empty __init__.py files to indicate namespace packages in Python 3.

hope this helps! cheers

That’s a good tip about __init.py__ as well.

Thank you so much for your help, Gustavo!