Maybe what you're looking for is __import__()?
>>> help(__import__)
Help on built-in function __import__ in module __builtin__:
__import__(...)
__import__(name, globals, locals, fromlist) -> module
Import a module. The globals are only used to determine the
context;
they are not modified. The locals are currently unused. The
fromlist
should be a list of names to emulate ``from name import ...'', or
an
empty list to emulate ``import name''.
When importing a module from a package, note that __import__('A.B',
...)
returns package A when fromlist is empty, but its submodule B when
fromlist is not empty.
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