This topic describes how to perform basic operations on projects by using PyODPS.

A project is the basic organizational unit of MaxCompute. For more information about projects, see Project.

Prepare the runtime environment

PyODPS can run on a PyODPS node in DataWorks or on an on-premises machine. Before you run PyODPS, you must select a tool and prepare the runtime environment.
  • DataWorks: If you want to run PyODPS in DataWorks, you must create a PyODPS 2 node or a PyODPS 3 node. For more information, see Use PyODPS in DataWorks.
  • On-premises machine: If you want to run PyODPS on an on-premises machine, you must install PyODPS and initialize the MaxCompute entry object.

Obtain information about a project

You can call the get_project() method of a MaxCompute entry object to obtain information about a project. 
project = o.get_project('project_name')  # If you specify a project name in the method, information about the specified project is returned. 
project = o.get_project()              # If you do not specify a project name in the method, information about the current project is returned.
To obtain information about a project, you must set the project_name parameter to the name of the project in the get_project() method. If you specify a project name in the method, information about the specified project is returned. If you do not specify a project name in the method, information about the current project is returned.

Check whether a project exists

Use the o.exist_project() method to check whether a project exists. In the following sample code, the project is named doc_test. 
print(o.exist_project('doc_test'))
If True is returned, the project doc_test exists.