Topics: What is if __name__ == "__main__" doing?

I always wanted to dig into the statement if __name__ == "__main__" that is used in so many programs. I have used it for a long time already but until recently I had no idea what exactly it is doing. To make the topic as understandable as possible, I will divide the explanation into three steps.

Step 1: Two ways of running code

We saved our Magical Universe in a file named magical_universe.py. First of all, we have to distinguish the two ways in which we can run our code:

  1. We can run the file directly, as in python magical_universe.py
  2. We can import the file from another module. In this case we would have a different script, for example ‘simulate_house_game.py’. In that script, we can use our classes by importing them at the beginning of the script. For example using: from magical_universe import CastleKilmereMember, Pupil, Professor.

Step 2: Setting up special variables

In both cases, the Python interpreter will read the source file magical_universe.py. But, as outlined in this post, the interpreter will first define a few special variables. One of them is the __name__ variable. In case 1, so when running our file as the main program, the value of __name__ is set to __main__. In case 2, the value of __name__ is set to the name of the module, which is magical_universe.

Step 3: Executing the code

The interpreter has finished setting up the special variables, so the value of __name__ is either __main__ (case 1) or magical_universe (case 2). In a next step, the interpreter will read the file and execute all top-level code in the file. ‘Top-level’ code refers to all code at indentation level 0. So in our case, the import statements at the beginning of the magical_universe.py file will be executed and all classes will be defined. However, none of the code inside the classes will be executed. At the end of the file we have an if block as top-level code. The if block starts with the line if __name__ == "__main__". With the knowledge from the previous steps we should be able to understand what this statement represents: it tests whether the current module, that is ‘magical_universe’, is being run directly (case 1) or imported by another module (case 2)! In case 1, the output of __name__ == "__main__" will be True, so the code within the if block will be executed. In case 2, the if clause won’t be executed because the required condition is not met.

Why “main”?

In case 1, the value of __name__ is set to __main__ because “magical_universe.py” is run as the main program.

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