Scope Of Imported Modules/functions In Python

I'm new here and am not 100% sure how to ask this question so I'll just dive right in. Should I be using import statements at the beginning of every function I write that import a

Solution 1:

Usually all imports are placed at the beginning of the file. Importing a module in a function body will import a module in that scope only:

deff():
    import sys
    print'f', sys.version_info

defg():
    print'g', sys.version_info

if __name__ == '__main__':
    f() # will work
    g() # won't work, since sys hasn't been imported into this modules namespace

Solution 2:

The module will only be processed the first time it is imported; subsequent imports will only copy a reference to the local scope. It is however best style to import at the top of a module when possible; see PEP 8 for details.