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importlib.resources – Package resource reading, opening and access¶
Source code: Lib/importlib/resources/__init__.py
This module leverages Python’s import system to provide access to resources
within packages.
“Resources” are file-like resources associated with a module or package in
Python. The resources may be contained directly in a package, within a
subdirectory contained in that package, or adjacent to modules outside a
package. Resources may be text or binary. As a result, Python module sources
(.py) of a package and compilation artifacts (pycache) are technically
de-facto resources of that package. In practice, however, resources are
primarily those non-Python artifacts exposed specifically by the package
author.
Resources can be opened or read in either binary or text mode.
Resources are roughly akin to files inside directories, though it’s important
to keep in mind that this is just a metaphor. Resources and packages do
not have to exist as physical files and directories on the file system:
for example, a package and its resources can be imported from a zip file using
zipimport.
Loaders that wish to support resource reading should implement a
get_resource_reader(fullname) method as specified by
importlib.resources.abc.ResourceReader.
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class importlib.resources.Anchor¶
Represents an anchor for resources, either a module object or a module name as a string. Defined as
Union[str, ModuleType].
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importlib.resources.files(anchor: Anchor | None = None)¶
Returns a Traversable object
representing the resource container (think directory) and its resources
(think files). A Traversable may contain other containers (think
subdirectories).
anchor is an optional Anchor. If the anchor is a
package, resources are resolved from that package. If a module,
resources are resolved adjacent to that module (in the same package
or the package root). If the anchor is omitted, the caller’s module
is used.
Changed in version 3.12: package parameter was renamed to anchor. anchor can now
be a non-package module and if omitted will default to the caller’s
module. package is still accepted for compatibility but will raise
a DeprecationWarning. Consider passing the anchor positionally or
using importlib_resources >= 5.10 for a compatible interface
on older Pythons.
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importlib.resources.as_file(traversable)¶
Given a Traversable object representing
a file or directory, typically from importlib.resources.files(),
return a context manager for use in a with statement.
The context manager provides a pathlib.Path object.
Exiting the context manager cleans up any temporary file or directory
created when the resource was extracted from e.g. a zip file.
Use as_file when the Traversable methods
(read_text, etc) are insufficient and an actual file or directory on
the file system is required.
Changed in version 3.12: Added support for traversable representing a directory.
Functional API¶
An older, previously deprecated set of functions is still available.
The main drawback of these functions is that they do not support
directories: they assume all resources are located directly within a package.
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importlib.resources.Package¶
Whenever a function accepts a Package argument, you can pass in
either a module object or a module name
as a string. You can only pass module objects whose
__spec__.submodule_search_locations is not None.
The Package type is defined as Union[str, ModuleType].
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importlib.resources.Resource¶
For resource arguments of the functions below, you can pass in
the name of a resource as a string or
a path-like object.
The Resource type is defined as Union[str, os.PathLike].
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importlib.resources.open_binary(package, resource)¶
Open for binary reading the resource within package.
package is either a name or a module object which conforms to the
Package requirements. resource is the name of the resource to open
within package; it may not contain path separators and it may not have
sub-resources (i.e. it cannot be a directory). This function returns a
typing.BinaryIO instance, a binary I/O stream open for reading.
This function is roughly equivalent to:
files(package).joinpath(resource).open('rb')
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importlib.resources.open_text(package, resource, encoding='utf-8', errors='strict')¶
Open for text reading the resource within package. By default, the
resource is opened for reading as UTF-8.
package is either a name or a module object which conforms to the
Package requirements. resource is the name of the resource to open
within package; it may not contain path separators and it may not have
sub-resources (i.e. it cannot be a directory). encoding and errors
have the same meaning as with built-in open().
This function returns a typing.TextIO instance, a text I/O stream open
for reading.
This function is roughly equivalent to:
files(package).joinpath(resource).open('r', encoding=encoding)
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importlib.resources.read_binary(package, resource)¶
Read and return the contents of the resource within package as
bytes.
package is either a name or a module object which conforms to the
Package requirements. resource is the name of the resource to open
within package; it may not contain path separators and it may not have
sub-resources (i.e. it cannot be a directory). This function returns the
contents of the resource as bytes.
This function is roughly equivalent to:
files(package).joinpath(resource).read_bytes()
-
importlib.resources.read_text(package, resource, encoding='utf-8', errors='strict')¶
Read and return the contents of resource within package as a str.
By default, the contents are read as strict UTF-8.
package is either a name or a module object which conforms to the
Package requirements. resource is the name of the resource to open
within package; it may not contain path separators and it may not have
sub-resources (i.e. it cannot be a directory). encoding and errors
have the same meaning as with built-in open(). This function
returns the contents of the resource as str.
This function is roughly equivalent to:
files(package).joinpath(resource).read_text(encoding=encoding)
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importlib.resources.path(package, resource)¶
Return the path to the resource as an actual file system path. This
function returns a context manager for use in a with statement.
The context manager provides a pathlib.Path object.
Exiting the context manager cleans up any temporary file created when the
resource needs to be extracted from e.g. a zip file.
package is either a name or a module object which conforms to the
Package requirements. resource is the name of the resource to open
within package; it may not contain path separators and it may not have
sub-resources (i.e. it cannot be a directory).
This function is roughly equivalent to
as_file(files(package).joinpath(resource))
-
importlib.resources.is_resource(package, name)¶
Return True if there is a resource named name in the package,
otherwise False.
This function does not consider directories to be resources.
package is either a name or a module object which conforms to the
Package requirements.
This function is roughly equivalent to:
files(package).joinpath(resource).is_file()
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importlib.resources.contents(package)¶
Return an iterable over the named items within the package. The iterable
returns str resources (e.g. files) and non-resources
(e.g. directories). The iterable does not recurse into subdirectories.
package is either a name or a module object which conforms to the
Package requirements.
This function is roughly equivalent to:
(resource.name for resource in files(package).iterdir() if resource.is_file())
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Last updated on Oct 26, 2026 (15:00 UTC).
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