Imports python object from given path

imports.py

def import_obj(obj_path):
    """
    Returns object from the given path.

    For example, in order to get function located at
    ``os.path.abspath``:

        abspath = import_obj('os.path.abspath')

    :raises ImportError: If object at the given path couldn't be retrieved
    """
    if '.' not in obj_path:
        return __import__(obj_path, {}, {}, [])
    splitted = obj_path.split('.')
    mod_path = '.'.join(splitted[:-1])
    obj_name = splitted[-1]
    try:
        class_mod = __import__(mod_path, {}, {}, [obj_name])
        return getattr(class_mod, obj_name)
    except ImportError:
        msg = "Couldn't locate python object at the given path: %r" % obj_path
        raise ImportError(msg)


import os
import os.path
import unittest

from io import StringIO


class ImportObjTest(unittest.TestCase):

    def test_simple_import(self):
        self.assertEqual(import_obj('os'), os)

    def test_simple_import_of_submodule(self):
        self.assertEqual(import_obj('os.path'), os.path)

    def test_import_function(self):
        self.assertEqual(import_obj('os.path.abspath'), os.path.abspath)

    def test_import_class(self):
        self.assertEqual(import_obj('io.StringIO'), StringIO)


if __name__ == '__main__':
    unittest.main()