What is if __name__ == '__main__' ?

So what is __ name __?

Before we get rolling, I want you to create 2 python files. For the sake of this article, I will create test.py and test2.py.

When the Python interpreter executes a file, it defines a few special variables. One of them is the __name__ variable.

# test.py

print("This is the test file")
print(__name__)

>>> This is the test file
    __main__

See how when we print __name__, it prints out __main__. What happens is, Python assigns the hard-coded string "__main__" to the __name__ variable.

So when you use if __name__ == "__main__" in your python script, you are asking Python to run the script as the main file.

Check out the 2 scripts below.

Script 1

# test.py

def hello():
    return "I am saying Hello"

print(hello())

and then,

Script 2

# test.py

def hello():
    return "I am saying Hello"

if __name__ == "__main__":
    print(hello())

There is no difference between Script 1 and Script 2. Both of them will output the below result.

>>> I am saying Hello

So why use if __ name __ == “__ main __“?

You will understand the difference when you start importing your test.py as a library.

Let’s make some changes to our test.py.

# test.py

def hello():
    return "This is from test.py"

if __name__ == "__main__":
    print("Executing test.py")
    
print(hello())

When we run the above script, we get the following results.

>>> Executing test.py
    This is from test.py

Let’s now make use of test2.py. We will import test.py into our test2.py.

# test2.py

import test

def hello2():
    return "This is test2"

if __name__ == '__main__':
    print(hello2())

Now if you run test2.py, you should get the following result.

>>> This is from test.py
    This is test2

When you import a python file, the code in the python file is executed first. Notice how, Executing test.py line didn’t get printed out. This is because it is within the if __ name __ == "__ main __" block.

Let’s now change the test.py to print the __name__ variable.

# test.py

def hello():
    return "This is from test.py"

if __name__ == "__main__":
    print("Executing test.py")

print(hello())
print(__name__) # New print statement

When we execute test.py now, we will get the following results.

>>> Executing test.py
    This is from test.py
    __main__

Now if we execute test2.py, we should get the following result.

This is from test.py
test # Result of printing __name__
This is test2

So now instead of printing __main__, the print(__name__) statement prints out the name of the file.

This is the benefit of using if __ name __ == "__ main __". You can easily identify which variables are being imported from which libraries.