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How does importlib let you dynamically import a module by name at runtime?

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Answer

importlib.import_module(name) programmatically imports a module given its string name, which is essential when the module to load isn't known until runtime -- such as a plugin system loading modules based on configuration or discovered files. It returns the module object just as a static `import` statement would bind it.

import importlib

module_name = 'json'  # could come from config or user input
mod = importlib.import_module(module_name)
print(mod.dumps({'key': 'value'}))

Real-world example A plugin architecture reads a list of enabled plugin module names from a config file and uses importlib.import_module() to load each one dynamically without hardcoding import statements.

Common follow-ups: How does importlib.reload() differ from a fresh import_module call?;How do you dynamically import from a file path, not just a module name?

Modules & Packaging;Decorators