# Issue with Wildcard Import in Julia Module

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/issue-with-wildcard-import-in-julia-module/111613>\
**Category:** New to Julia\
**Tags:** question, module, functions, modules, import\
**Created:** [March 14, 2024, 11:55am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/issue-with-wildcard-import-in-julia-module/111613 "2024-03-14T11:55:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Daniel\_S](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/daniel_s/32/207049_2.png) [@Daniel\_S](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Daniel_S)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2024, 11:55am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/issue-with-wildcard-import-in-julia-module/111613/1 "2024-03-14T11:55:33Z")

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I’m encountering an issue with wildcard imports (“import .ModuleName: \*”) in Julia. Specifically, when attempting to import all symbols from a module using the wildcard syntax, the symbols do not seem to be available in the importing file.

Here’s an example:

Module definition:

```julia
# Module file: ModuleA.jl
module ModuleA
export *

function functionA(arg1::AbstractString, arg2::AbstractString)
    # Function A implementation
end

function functionB(arg1::AbstractString, arg2::AbstractString)
    # Function B implementation
end

end

```

Main file:

```julia
# Main file: main.jl
include("ModuleA.jl")
import .ModuleA: *

functionA("arg1", "arg2") # Error: functionA not defined

```

When I attempt to import all symbols from the “ModuleA” module using “import .ModuleA: \*”, the “functionA” function is not recognized in the main file, resulting in an error. However, when I specifically import the “functionA” function using “import .ModuleA: functionA”, it works as expected.

I want to use the wildcard import to keep the code more readable and avoid listing individual functions. What could be causing this issue?

I use Juliav1.6 in VS-Code.

Any help or insights would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

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**Author:** ![stevengj](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/stevengj/32/71_2.png) [@stevengj](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/stevengj)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2024, 12:48pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/issue-with-wildcard-import-in-julia-module/111613/3 "2024-03-14T12:48:14Z")

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> [@Daniel\_S](#):
>
> `export *`

You are exporting the symbol `*` — this is not a wildcard, this is the name of the multiplication function.

Julia doesn’t have “wildcard” (globbing/pattern-matching) export and import, unlike Python.

Do `export functionA, functionB` explicitly in the module. To use all of the exported symbols of a module, do `using .ModuleA`

(Somebody did make a package ExportAll.jl to export everything from a module, but I don’t think it’s widely used.)

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**Author:** ![Alseidon](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/alseidon/32/207775_2.png) [@Alseidon](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Alseidon)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2024, 12:52pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/issue-with-wildcard-import-in-julia-module/111613/4 "2024-03-14T12:52:51Z")

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As stevengj said, you exported the multiplication function. I tried this which seems to work:

```julia
module Foo
    foo1() = "this is foo1"
    foo2() = "here is foo2"
    function get_func_strings()
        symbols = names(Foo, all=true) # this contains a lot of unecessary stuff
        n = length(symbols)
        symbols = symbols[(n÷2 + 1):end] # first elements aren't useful
        filter!(smb->smb ∉ [:eval, :include, :Foo], symbols) # we don't want to reexport eval, include and the module name, although this one will be exported nonetheless
        return map(String, symbols)
    end
    for fname in get_func_strings()
        "export $fname" |> (eval ∘ Meta.parse)
    end
end

```

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**Author:** ![mkitti](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/mkitti/32/12459_2.png) [@mkitti](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/mkitti)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2024, 1:28pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/issue-with-wildcard-import-in-julia-module/111613/5 "2024-03-14T13:28:06Z")

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You may want to consider loading a module via `using` rather than `include`.

[https://docs.julialang.org/en/v1/manual/code-loading/](https://docs.julialang.org/en/v1/manual/code-loading/)

When you are new, the simplest way might be manipulating `LOAD_PATH` as follows.

```julia
# Main file: main.jl
push!(LOAD_PATH, @ __DIR__ )
using ModuleA: functionA

functionA("arg1", "arg2") 

```

I do not recommend manipulating `LOAD_PATH` in the long term.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Daniel\_S](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/daniel_s/32/207049_2.png) [@Daniel\_S](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Daniel_S)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2024, 2:23pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/issue-with-wildcard-import-in-julia-module/111613/6 "2024-03-14T14:23:15Z")

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Thank you all for your responses! That helped clearing up the confusion.