:mod:__main__ --- Top-level script environment

.. module:: main :synopsis: The environment where the top-level script is run.

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'__main__' is the name of the scope in which top-level code executes. A module's name is set equal to '__main__' when read from standard input, a script, or from an interactive prompt.

A module can discover whether or not it is running in the main scope by checking its own __name__, which allows a common idiom for conditionally executing code in a module when it is run as a script or with python -m but not when it is imported::

if name == "main": # execute only if run as a script main()

For a package, the same effect can be achieved by including a __main__.py module, the contents of which will be executed when the module is run with -m.