isort

Installation and Setup

Install it from the Python Package Index (PyPI) into a virtual environment:

• Windows
• Linux + macOS

(venv) PS> py -m pip install isort
(venv) PS> py -m isort --version

(venv) $ python -m pip install isort
(venv) $ python -m isort --version

A common setup that aligns with Black is:

[tool.isort]
profile = "black"
line_length = 88
known_first_party = ["package_name"]
src_paths = ["src"]

Key Features

• Groups and orders imports by section, such as standard-library, third-party, and local modules, following the import grouping recommended by PEP 8.
• Enforces consistent formatting of single and multi-line imports and can combine or split imports as configured.
• Reads settings from pyproject.toml, setup.cfg, or .isort.cfg, with ready-made profiles like black.
• Provides a check mode and clear exit codes for continuous integration and pre-commit workflows.
• Supports per-file ignores and skip patterns to fine-tune what gets formatted.

Usage

Sort imports in a file or directory in place:

$ python -m isort path/to/file.py
$ python -m isort src/ tests/

Check whether imports are correctly sorted without writing changes:

$ python -m isort --check --diff .

Override or fine-tune behavior on the command line:

$ python -m isort --profile black --line-length 100 .

Related Resources

Tutorial

Python Code Quality: Best Practices and Tools

Python best practices for code quality: what makes code good, and the tools and strategies that keep it that way as a project grows.

intermediate best-practices python tools

For additional information on related topics, take a look at the following resources:

• How to Manage Python Projects With pyproject.toml (Tutorial)
• Absolute vs Relative Imports in Python (Course)
• Managing and Measuring Python Code Quality (Course)
• Python Code Quality: Best Practices and Tools (Quiz)
• Everyday Project Packaging With pyproject.toml (Course)
• How to Manage Python Projects With pyproject.toml (Quiz)