File imports for polynomial rings in sage

I agree, this is hard to read (probably a candidate for "What is broken on this site"). Having said that, I think the question is:

What module do I need to import in my .py file so that the above syntax works as expected?

I guess I don't know this answer, but maybe a workaround: The .< > notation is a shortcut for

R = PolynomialRing(ZZ,2,'z1,z2')

(z1,z2) = R.gens()

and the latter works when loaded from a .py file.

The answer; it is impossible to make the notation:

R.<z1,z2> = ZZ[]

work in a .py file, since .py files must be valid Python, and the above isn't. The workaround by niles above is the way to go.

Could you please edit your question? There are html escaping errors in it. Notice the ampersand gt semicolon?

I see the command, but I don't see a question mark or a question in what you originally typed. Thanks.