How to import python file located in same subdirectory in a pycharm project

I have an input error in pycharm when debugging and running.

My project structure is rooted properly, etc./HW3/. so that HW3 is the root directory.

I have a subfolder in HW3, util, and a file, util/util.py. I have another file in util called run_tests.py.

In run_tests.py, I have the following import structure,

from util.util import my_functions, etc.

This yields an input error, from util.util import load_dataset,proportionate_sample ImportError: No module named 'util.util'; 'util' is not a package

However, in the exact same project, in another directory (same level as util) called data, I have a file data/data_prep.py, which also imports functions from util/util.py using a similar import statement...and it runs without any problems.

Obviously, I am doing this in the course of doing a homework, so please understand: this is ancillary to the scope of the homework.

The problem goes away when I move the file to another directory. So I guess this question is How do I import a python file located in the same directory in a pycharm project? Because pycharm raises an error if I just do import util and prompts me to use the full name from the root.

Solution

If you don't have an __init__.py create one and add this line

from util.util import my_function

then you can easily import the module in your scripts the __init__.py tells python that it should treat that folder as a python package, it can also be used to import/load modules too.

in most cases the __init__.py is empty.

Quoting the docs:

The __init__.py files are required to make Python treat the directories as containing packages; this is done to prevent directories with a common name, such as string, from unintentionally hiding valid modules that occur later on the module search path. In the simplest case, __init__.py can just be an empty file, but it can also execute initialization code for the package or set the __all__ variable, described later.