Question

If have this module

# mymodule.py
import __main__

And I import it in the python interpreter:

>>> import mymodule
>>> dir(mymodule)
['__builtins__', '__doc__', '__file__', '__main__', '__name__', '__package__']
>>> dir()
['__builtins__', '__doc__', '__name__', '__package__', 'mymodule']
>>> import sys
>>> sys.modules['__main__'] == mymodule.__main__
True
>>> mymodule == mymodule.__main__.mymodule
True

I’ve just created a circular reference by importing a module that imports __main__. Is this bad?

Answer 1

No. Python has no problem with circular references like this. The only thing you must be sure of is that you don’t use a name from the other module until it has been defined.