What does
AttributeError: module 'datetime' has no attribute 'strptime'
mean and how can you easily fix it?
When parsing a string and transforming that to a date you can make use of the function
strptime
in the
datetime
module.
To use this function simply
import datetime
as you normally would with any module, and use the function as follows:
>>> import datetime
>>> datetime.datetime.strptime("16/06/22", "%d/%m/%y")
datetime.datetime(2022, 6, 16, 0, 0)
Notice in the above code that the function
strptime
is found within the module
datetime
and class
datetime
, therefore, if your code just has
import datetime
at the top you will need to enter the module and class followed by the function.
A workaround is to import the module and class in your import declaration, like so:
>>> from datetime import datetime
>>> datetime.strptime("17/08/22", "%d/%m/%y")
datetime.datetime(2022, 8, 17, 0, 0)
Notice in this code that the
strptime
only has the direct class
datetime
to reference as the import declaration on pulled that class from the module.
Another popular mistake with this approach is thinking you can import
strptime
from the import declaration, like so:
>>> from datetime import strptime
ImportError: cannot import name 'strptime' from 'datetime'
As you can see from this error you cannot
strptime
as it’s a function in the
datetime
class found in the
datetime
module.
Summary
If you’re experiencing issues with the
strptime
method check your import declaration for
datetime
. Have you imported the module and class or just the module? If you’ve imported the module and class using
from datetime import datetime
then your function call will be
datetime.strptime()
, otherwise if you’ve used
import datetime
you would need to reference the module and class along with the function, like so:
datetime.datetime.strptime()
.
