import_object [ from tornado ]

import_object

def import_object(name):
    """Imports an object by name.

    import_object('x') is equivalent to 'import x'.
    import_object('x.y.z') is equivalent to 'from x.y import z'.

    >>> import tornado.escape
    >>> import_object('tornado.escape') is tornado.escape
    True
    >>> import_object('tornado.escape.utf8') is tornado.escape.utf8
    True
    >>> import_object('tornado') is tornado
    True
    >>> import_object('tornado.missing_module')
    Traceback (most recent call last):
        ...
    ImportError: No module named missing_module
    """
    if name.count('.') == 0:
        return __import__(name, None, None)

    parts = name.split('.')
    obj = __import__('.'.join(parts[:-1]), None, None, [parts[-1]], 0)
    try:
        return getattr(obj, parts[-1])
    except AttributeError:
        raise ImportError("No module named %s" % parts[-1])