TypeError: 'module' object is not callable

user551717 picture user551717 · Dec 26, 2010 · Viewed 1.2M times · Source
File "C:\Users\Administrator\Documents\Mibot\oops\blinkserv.py", line 82, in __init__
    self.serv = socket(AF_INET,SOCK_STREAM)
TypeError: 'module' object is not callable

Why am I getting this error? I'm confused.

What do you need to know to answer my question?

Answer

Katriel picture Katriel · Dec 26, 2010

socket is a module, containing the class socket.

You need to do socket.socket(...) or from socket import socket:

>>> import socket
>>> socket
<module 'socket' from 'C:\Python27\lib\socket.pyc'>
>>> socket.socket
<class 'socket._socketobject'>
>>>
>>> from socket import socket
>>> socket
<class 'socket._socketobject'>

This is what the error message means:
It says module object is not callable, because your code is calling a module object. A module object is the type of thing you get when you import a module. What you were trying to do is to call a class object within the module object that happens to have the same name as the module that contains it.

Here is a way to logically break down this sort of error:

  • "module object is not callable. Python is telling me my code trying to call something that cannot be called. What is my code trying to call?"
  • "The code is trying to call on socket. That should be callable! Is the variable socket is what I think it is?`
  • I should print out what socket is and check print socket