Modules in Python Programming Tutorials

Modules in Python

In this module we shall be looking on modules in Python. What are modules, how do we use them, and even look at creating one such module.

Let us get started by knowing about a module.

A module is a file which consists a Python code. In a module we can define functions, classes variables etc. As I have told you earlier, there are a lot of functions in Python. For using the functions, we need an import statement which tells the interpreter that we are going to use a functionality that are mentioned in that module.

If we want to take a particular functionality from a module, then we need to use the “from” that is, from Module_name import functionality.

If you want to use all the functionalities of a module, then you need to write an asterisk (*) like from module_name import *.

Let us look at a program to get a better understanding.

 {`from chatterbot import ChatBot
from chatterbot.trainers import ChatterBotCorpusTrainer
import os
chatbot = ChatBot('Kazami')
trainer = ChatterBotCorpusTrainer(chatbot)
trainer.train('C:..\chatterbot-corpus-master\chatterbot-corpus-master
\chatterbot_corpus\data\english')
for files in os.listdir
('C:..\chatterbot-corpus-master\chatterbot-corpus-master
\chatterbot_corpus\data\english'):
 print(files)
 print('C:..chatterbot-corpus-master\chatterbot-corpus-master
\chatterbot_corpus\data\english/'+ files)
 data ='C:..chatterbot-corpus-master\chatterbot-corpus-master
\chatterbot_corpus\data\english/'+ files trainer.train(data)
while True:
 message = input('You:')
 if message.strip()!= 'Bye':
 reply = chatbot.get_response(message)
 print("Kazami:",reply)
 if message.strip()== 'Bye':
 print('Kazami: Bye')
 break
`}

The above code is just for the understanding about the modules. Like here we are using the from and the import statements. From the module chatterbot we are importing a function ChatBot, we are importing the os module, and from chatterbot.trainers we are importing ChatterBotCorpusTrainer . there are a lot of functions and modules.

You can also create your own module and use its functions.

It is quite simple. Suppose I have made a program which calculates sum of numbers, then in the other file I can import that program as a module. All you need to do is:

Import operation from name_of_file/project.

Let us look at the time module and its functionality.

The time module is one of the most popular modules available in Python which provides functionalities with allows us to do things like time conversions, reading time from the system etc. we shall be looking at some of the functions and will play around time.

Let us look at a program used to get the local time.

{`import time
t = time.localtime(time.time())
print(t,'is the local time')
`}

we have imported the time module and used the localtime() function and the time function and then printed the local time.

Output:

time.struct_time(tm_year=2019, tm_mon=7, tm_mday=1, tm_hour=16, tm_min=49, tm_sec=1, tm_wday=0, tm_yday=182, tm_isdst=0) is the local time

But this output is not eye pleasing. Let us see how we can get an output that is easy to read and correct.

Let us look at another function.

{`import time
e = time.asctime(time.localtime(time.time()))
print(e)
`}

Output:

Mon Jul 1 17:04:18 2019

This is much more readable than the previous one. Here we are getting the day date month year and the current time.

Mentioned below are some of the functions that are used in the module time along with their uses.

Let us look at another module that is, “calendar”.

The calendar module gives functions that are related to calendar like printing a text calendar for a month and year of your choice.

Let us look at a program to get a better understanding.

import calendar

t = calendar.month(2019,5)

print(‘calendar for the fifth month of 2019 is:’)

print(t)

Output:

May 2019

Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su
1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 10 11 12
13 14 15 16 17 18 19
20 21 22 23 24 25 26
27 28 29 30 31

Let us look at some of the functions that are included in the calendar module.

This is it for this tutorial. I hope that you learnt something from this tutorial. You may try all the above-mentioned functions from the header files and see the results yourself. See you in the next one!