# `importlib.resources` – Package resource reading, opening and access

Source code: Lib/importlib/resources/__init__.py

New in version 3.7.

This module leverages Python’s import system to provide access to resources within packages. If you can import a package, you can access resources within that package. 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`.

Note

This module provides functionality similar to pkg_resources Basic Resource Access without the performance overhead of that package. This makes reading resources included in packages easier, with more stable and consistent semantics.

The standalone backport of this module provides more information on using importlib.resources and migrating from pkg_resources to importlib.resources.

`Loaders` that wish to support resource reading should implement a `get_resource_reader(fullname)` method as specified by `importlib.resources.abc.ResourceReader`.

class 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]`.

importlib.resources.files(package)

  Returns a `Traversable` object representing the resource container for the package (think directory) and its resources (think files). A Traversable may contain other containers (think subdirectories).

  package is either a name or a module object which conforms to the `Package` requirements.

  New in version 3.9.

importlib.resources.as_file(traversable)

  Given a `Traversable` object representing a file, 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 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 on the file system is required.

  New in version 3.9.

## Deprecated functions

An older, deprecated set of functions is still available, but is scheduled for removal in a future version of Python. The main drawback of these functions is that they do not support directories: they assume all resources are located directly within a package.

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]`.

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.

  Deprecated since version 3.11: Calls to this function can be replaced by:

      files(package).joinpath(resource).open('rb')

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.

  Deprecated since version 3.11: Calls to this function can be replaced by:

      files(package).joinpath(resource).open('r', encoding=encoding)

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`.

  Deprecated since version 3.11: Calls to this function can be replaced by:

      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`.

  Deprecated since version 3.11: Calls to this function can be replaced by:

      files(package).joinpath(resource).read_text(encoding=encoding)

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).

  Deprecated since version 3.11: Calls to this function can be replaced using `as_file()`:

      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.

  Deprecated since version 3.11: Calls to this function can be replaced by:

      files(package).joinpath(resource).is_file()

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.

  Deprecated since version 3.11: Calls to this function can be replaced by:

      (resource.name for resource in files(package).iterdir() if resource.is_file())