findimports 3.0.0
Python module import analysis tool
License: MIT
Requires Python: >=3.10

FindImports
===========

FindImports extracts Python module dependencies by parsing source files.
It can report names that are imported but not used, and it can generate
module import graphs in ASCII or graphviz or JSON formats.

A distinguishing feature of findimports used to be that it could parse doctest
code inside docstrings.

Note that not all cases are handled correctly, especially if you use
'import foo.bar.baz', or rely on PEP 420 implicit namespace packages.

If you need to find unused imports in your codebase, I recommend flake8_
instead -- it's better maintained and more reliable.  For import graphs
consider pydeps_.

.. _flake8: https://pypi.org/project/flake8/
.. _pydeps: https://pypi.org/project/pydeps/


Installation
------------

Use your favorite Python command-line tool installer such as pipx_ or uv_.
Or run it without installing with ::

    uvx findimports --help

.. _pipx: https://pypi.org/project/pipx/
.. _uv: https://pypi.org/project/uv/


Module dependency graphs
------------------------

On larger projects the module graphs tend to be an unreadable mess.  You can
make them clearer by post-processing the graph with ``tred`` to remove graph
edges representing direct dependencies to modules that you're already
transitively depending on::

    uvx findimports -N -q src -d | tred | xdot -

``tred`` is part of graphviz_.  xdot_ is a nice interactive graphviz viewer.

.. _graphviz: https://graphviz.org/
.. _xdot: https://pypi.org/project/xdot/


Misc
----

Home page: https://github.com/mgedmin/findimports

Licence: MIT (https://mit-license.org/)

|buildstatus|_ |coverage|_

.. |buildstatus| image:: https://github.com/mgedmin/findimports/actions/workflows/build.yml/badge.svg?branch=master
.. _buildstatus: https://github.com/mgedmin/findimports/actions

.. |coverage| image:: https://coveralls.io/repos/mgedmin/findimports/badge.svg?branch=master
.. _coverage: https://coveralls.io/r/mgedmin/findimports


Changes
=======


3.0.0 (2025-12-08)
------------------

- ``-t``/``--tred`` to compute a transitive reduction of the import graph.
  Somewhat experimental.

- Bugfix: names getting imported from a package's ``foo/__init__.py``` were not
  being correctly tracked; they instead were treated as imports from an
  external package 'foo', while 'foo.__init__' was shown to be with no incoming
  edges.

Backwards incompatible changes: modules named ``__init__`` are now treated
as packages, so instead of ``foo.__init__`` in the output you'll see just
``foo``.


2.8.0 (2025-12-06)
------------------

- ``-l``/``--levels`` now works even without using ``-p``.  This lets you
  collapse subpackages while still seeing modules inside the top-level package.


2.7.0 (2025-11-14)
------------------

- Add support for Python 3.14.

- Drop support for Python 3.8 and 3.9.

- Add ``--quiet``/``-q`` to suppress "could not find some.module" warnings.

- Add ``--json``/``-j`` to produce JSON output.

- Support glob patterns in ``--ignore``/``-I``.  Make the default ignore
  pattern ``.*``.

Backwards incompatible changes: ``venv`` is no longer ignored by default.  The
Python community has settled on ``.venv`` as the default directory name for a
project-local virtual environment, which is now ignored by the new default
ignore pattern.


2.6.0 (2025-06-02)
------------------

- Drop support for Python 3.7.

- Add ``--csv``/``-C`` output format: `pull request 32
  <https://github.com/mgedmin/findimports/pull/32>`_.

- Add ``--search-import``/``-s`` command-line option to filter imports by
  substring: `pull request 33
  <https://github.com/mgedmin/findimports/pull/33>`_.


2.5.2 (2024-11-27)
------------------

- Bugfix: findimports was treating all imports as relative, just like in the
  good old Python 2 days.  Oops.

- When reporting that it couldn't find the source for an imported module,
  findimports will now mention the line number that contained the import
  statement.


2.5.1 (2024-10-09)
------------------

- Add support for Python 3.13.


2.5.0 (2024-05-30)
------------------

- Fixed extension module detection that never worked on Python 3.  See `pull
  request 29 <https://github.com/mgedmin/findimports/pull/29>`_.

- Add ``--attr``/``-A`` to add arbitrary graphviz `graph attributes
  <https://graphviz.org/docs/graph/>`_ to the output.  See `pull
  request 30 <https://github.com/mgedmin/findimports/pull/30>`_.


2.4.0 (2024-02-01)
------------------

- Add support for Python 3.12.

- Change license from GPL to MIT.  See `issue 27
  <https://github.com/mgedmin/findimports/issues/27>`_.

- Add ``--package-externals``/``-pE`` to simplify the module graph.

- Add ``--rmprefix PREFIX``/``-R PREFIX`` to remove a package prefix from
  displayed names.

- Add ``--depth N``/``-D N`` to ignore import statements nested too deep in the
  syntax tree (e.g. in functions or if statements).


2.3.0 (2022-10-27)
------------------

- Rewrote command-line parsing to use argparse.  Options that select an action
  (``--imports``/``--dot``/``--names``/``--unused``) now conflict instead of
  all but the last one being ignored.  See `pull request #20
  <https://github.com/mgedmin/findimports/pull/20>`_.

- Add support for Python 3.11.

- Drop support for Python 3.6.


2.2.0 (2021-12-16)
------------------

- Add support for Python 3.10.

- Add ``--ignore-stdlib`` flag to ignore modules from the Python standard
  library.


2.1.0 (2021-05-16)
------------------

- Add ``--ignore`` flag to ignore files and directories, it can be used multiple
  times. See `pull request #14 <https://github.com/mgedmin/findimports/pull/14>`_.


2.0.0 (2021-05-09)
------------------

- Add support for Python 3.9.

- Drop support for Python 3.5 and 2.7.

- Fix a bug where the encoding of Python files was not determined in the
  same way as by Python itself.  See `issue 15
  <https://github.com/mgedmin/findimports/issues/15>`_.  This requires
  the use of ``tokenize.open`` which is not in Python 2.7.


1.5.2 (2019-10-31)
------------------

- Add support for Python 3.8.

- Fix a bug where a package/module with a name that is a prefix of another
  package/module might accidentally be used instead of the other one (e.g. py
  instead of pylab).  See `issue 10
  <https://github.com/mgedmin/findimports/issues/10>`_.


1.5.1 (2019-04-23)
------------------

- Drop support for Python 3.4.


1.5.0 (2019-03-18)
------------------

- Support Python 3.6 and 3.7.

- Drop support for Python 2.6 and 3.3.

- Suppress duplicate import warnings if the line in question has a comment.


1.4.1 (2016-09-28)
------------------

- Replace ``getopt`` with ``optparse``.  This changes the ``--help``
  message as a side effect (`#4
  <https://github.com/mgedmin/findimports/issues/4>`_).


1.4.0 (2015-06-04)
------------------

- Python 3 support (3.3 and newer).

- Use ``ast`` instead of ``compiler`` (`#1
  <https://github.com/mgedmin/findimports/issues/1>`_).


1.3.2 (2015-04-13)
------------------

- Fix "cannot find datetime" on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS (`#3
  <https://github.com/mgedmin/findimports/issues/3>`_).

- 100% test coverage.


1.3.1 (2014-04-16)
------------------

- Added support for relative imports (e.g. ``from .. import foo``).


1.3.0 (2013-04-10)
------------------

- Moved to Github.

- Drop Python 2.4 and 2.5 support.

- Handle unicode docstrings with doctests.


1.2.14 (2012-02-12)
-------------------

- Recognize builtin modules using ``sys.builtin_module_names``.
  Fixes https://bugs.launchpad.net/findimports/+bug/880989.


1.2.13 (2011-04-18)
-------------------

- Suppress "not a zipfile" warnings about ``*.egg-info`` files listed in
  sys.path.


1.2.12 (2011-04-08)
-------------------

- Handle zipfile errors when there are plain files that are not zip files
  on sys.path.


1.2.11 (2011-03-30)
-------------------

- Fix 'could not find cPickle' errors on Python 2.6 and newer.


1.2.10 (2010-02-05)
-------------------

- Ignore 'from __future__ import ...'.


1.2.9 (2009-07-07)
------------------

- Fixed broken and uninstallable source distribution by adding a MANIFEST.in.


1.2.8 (2009-07-07)
------------------

- Is able to find modules inside zip files (e.g. eggs).

- Fixed deprecation warning on Python 2.6.