Python: datetime.date "expected datetime, got int"

Question

So, for a long time now, I have been using code like the following in Python for version tracking:

...
import datetime
...

"""
Version tracking
"""
__version__ = 4.0
__dateV__ = datetime.date(2015, 5, 7)
...

Now, out of the blue, I get an error saying "TypeError: descriptor 'date' requires a 'datetime.datetime' object but received a 'int'"

This has never happened before, and the documentation for the datetime module says that a "date" object should be initialized with year, month, and day arguments, which are all INTEGERS.

I have confirmed that I am using Python version 2.7.

Has anyone else seen this error? This is literally at the top of my code (right after all of the imports.) Please help.

Please post a complete, self-contained example demonstrating the problem. I suspect you actually have from datetime import datetime. — BrenBarn
– BrenBarn, Commented May 7, 2015 at 19:27
I agree with BrenBarn I can reproduce the error if I do import datetime as dt dt.datetime.date(2014,1,1) — EdChum
– EdChum, Commented May 7, 2015 at 19:29
You get this error from typing.Optional or typing.Union? the issue is the bad import because import datetime results in datetime being a module, whereas from datetime import datetime results in datetime being type - and typing only accepts ŧypes :) — jave.web
– jave.web, Commented Mar 10, 2021 at 2:36

xnx · Accepted Answer · 2015-05-07 20:26:34Z

As the comments above have suggested, you've probably imported with

from datetime import datetime

That is, the name datetime will refer to the class datetime representing a date and time together (imported from the datetime module, which, annoyingly, has the same name).

Then, date is a method for retrieving the date-part of a datetime object:

In [4]: my_date = datetime(2015,5,7,20,02,00)
In [5]: my_date.date()
In [6]: datetime.date(2015, 5, 7)

It doesn't take any arguments (see the source) apart from self, so if you call it with one or more integer arguments, it complains:

In [7]: datetime.date(999)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TypeError                                 Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-5-55d65eb13663> in <module>()
----> 1 datetime.date(999)

TypeError: descriptor 'date' requires a 'datetime.datetime' object but received a 'int'

In this context, datetime.date is the method of a datetime object and doesn't know what to do with 999. The following are equivalent:

In [8]: datetime.date(my_date)
Out[8]: datetime.date(2015, 5, 7)

In [9]: my_date.date()
Out[9]: datetime.date(2015, 5, 7)

If you import the datetime module, you can do what you want because date is also the name of a class (for representing dates without hours, minutes, etc) within this module:

In [1]: import datetime
In [2]: datetime.date(2015, 5, 7)    # OK, returns a date object

fahad · Accepted Answer · 2015-05-13 05:51:50Z

1

I think you are using `from datetime import *:

>>> from datetime import *
>>> date = datetime.date(2015, 5, 7)
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
TypeError: descriptor 'date' requires a 'datetime.datetime' object but received a 'int'

Usefrom datetime import date then:

>>> date = date(2015, 5, 7)

edited May 13, 2015 at 5:51

answered May 8, 2015 at 5:55

fahad

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2 Comments

jfs Over a year ago

from datetime import date does not introduce datetime name therefore you should get NameError here.

jfs Over a year ago

start python, put your code from the answer, see what happens

jdrobers · Accepted Answer · 2015-05-08 13:27:28Z

0

Upon closer inspection, I have found that the root cause of the error was actually in one of my import statements.

One of my modules had an error in it, but for some reason that error was not caught until the line dateV = datetime.date(5, 7, 2015)

The datetime module was imported correctly, but the traceback sent me on a wild goose chase. Commenting out the imports of the faulty modules got rid of the error.

answered May 8, 2015 at 13:27

jdrobers

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2 Comments

jfs Over a year ago

are you using a wild-card (*) import by any chance? It may explain why importing from some other module may break datetime.date call.

jdrobers Over a year ago

Yes, that was indeed what I had been doing. I have made sure to only import the specific classes I need from said modules, and the problem has gone away.

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