How to: Auto-import common modules in ipython shell

April 9, 2012

if you use ipython, save yourself some typing by importing common modules automatically on load.

edit your ipythonrc file (mine lives in ~/.ipython/) as such:

import_mod math os os.path sys random itertools re json hashlib time urllib urllib2 urlparse

import_some datetime datetime date timedelta

import_mod x y z is like: import x, y, z

import_some x y z is like: from x import y, z

Python 2.6.5 (r265:79063, Apr 16 2010, 13:09:56)

IPython 0.10 — An enhanced Interactive Python.

In [1]: datetime.now()

Out[1]: datetime.datetime(2012, 4, 9, 12, 18, 44, 570264)

look ma, no imports!

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