Package with data

November 8, 2022

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The file structure below represents a Python package that includes data files. Notice the data directory is within the package at src/mypackage/. This source directory approach follows the conventions outlined in the Python Packaging User Guide.

mypackage-data
├── README.md
├── examples
│   ├── add_numbers.py
│   └── read_fruits_data.py
├── pyproject.toml
├── src
│   └── mypackage
│       ├── __init__.py
│       ├── adder.py
│       ├── data
│       │   └── fruits.csv
│       └── read_fruits.py
└── tests
    ├── test_adder.py
    └── test_read_fruits.py

The importlib.resources module should be used to get a path to the data files. This ensures the data file's path is correct even when the package is installed on different systems.

import pandas as pd
from importlib.resources import files


def read_fruits():
    """
    Read fruit data from CSV file.
    """
    path = files('mypackage') / 'data/fruits.csv'
    print(f'File path is\n{path}')

    df = pd.read_csv(path)
    print(f'Pandas dataframe is\n{df}')