python - Reloading module giving NameError: name 'reload' is not defined

Question

I'm trying to reload a module I have already imported in Python 3. I know that you only need to import once and executing the import command again won't do anything.

Executing reload(foo) is giving this error:

Traceback (most recent call last):
    File "(stdin)", line 1, in (module)
    ...
NameError: name 'reload' is not defined

What does the error mean?

Answer 1

reload is a builtin in Python 2, but not in Python 3, so the error you're seeing is expected.

If you truly must reload a module in Python 3, you should use either:

• importlib.reload for Python 3.4 and above
• imp.reload for Python 3.0 to 3.3 (deprecated since Python 3.4 in favour of importlib)