type object 'datetime.datetime' has no attribute 'datetime'

Question

I have gotten the following error:

type object 'datetime.datetime' has no attribute 'datetime'

On the following line:

date = datetime.datetime(int(year), int(month), 1)

Does anybody know the reason for the error?

I imported datetime with from datetime import datetime if that helps

Thanks

Answer 1

Datetime is a module that allows for handling of dates, times and datetimes (all of which are datatypes). This means that datetime is both a top-level module as well as being a type within that module. This is confusing.

Your error is probably based on the confusing naming of the module, and what either you or a module you're using has already imported.

>>> import datetime
>>> datetime
<module 'datetime' from '/usr/lib/python2.6/lib-dynload/datetime.so'>
>>> datetime.datetime(2001,5,1)
datetime.datetime(2001, 5, 1, 0, 0)

But, if you import datetime.datetime:

>>> from datetime import datetime
>>> datetime
<type 'datetime.datetime'>
>>> datetime.datetime(2001,5,1) # You shouldn't expect this to work 
                                # as you imported the type, not the module
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
AttributeError: type object 'datetime.datetime' has no attribute 'datetime'
>>> datetime(2001,5,1)
datetime.datetime(2001, 5, 1, 0, 0)

I suspect you or one of the modules you're using has imported like this: from datetime import datetime.