Confusion about Python's "import" statement

[Volt9000]

I'm a bit confused about how Python's "import" statement works.

Let's say I have two files, as follows.

class1.py:


class Foo:
def __init__(self):
print "Class Foo initialized."


class2.py:


import class1
c = Foo()


When I execute class2.py, I get the error that "Foo" is not defined. But I imported class1, which contains the definition for Foo, so why doesn't this work?

[matmatmat]

import class1
c = class1.Foo()

[unutbu]

An alternative to matmatmat's solution is


from class1 import Foo
c = Foo()

[StunnerAlpha]

An alternative to matmatmat's solution is


from class1 import Foo
c = Foo()
Couldn't you also do something like:


from class1 import *
c = Foo()


And that would import everything from that file, correct?

[unutbu]

Yes, but I read somewhere that


from class1 import *

is not recommended because it makes it hard to track down where objects are defined.
It is recommended that you explicitly list all objects that you import into the current namespace.

[Volt9000]

Thanks for your replies, everyone.

I was confused because I come from a C/C# background, and in C# when you say something like



using Some.Namespace;


that automatically imports everything defined in the namespace; no need to explicitly specify namespaces.