What is ‘if __name__ == “__main__”‘ for?
Posted by jpluimers on 2019/08/14
One of the things when I learned Python was that in some scripts I found a block starting with a statement like this:
if __name__ == '__main__':
It looked like an idiom to me, and indeed it is: [WayBack] What is ‘if name == “main“‘ for?.
It allows a file to be both used as “main” standalone program file and a module. That section of code will not be executed if it is loaded as a module.
Part of the idiom is also to put your code in a separate method so this block is as short as possible.
if __name__ == '__main__':
main()
Via: [WayBack] Why is Python running my module when I import it, and how do I stop it? (thanks user166390 and Jeremy Banks for the answers there)
–jeroen
The Wiert Corner - irregular stream of stuff 
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