Getting an AttributeError: <class> has no attribute <method>

Question

I am creating a method in a class in a module mod1 and calling it as follows:

class blahblah:
   def foobar(self, bvar, **dvar)
       ////
       return dvar

And calling it as:

obj1 = mod1.blahblah()
dvar1 = obj1.foobar(True, **somedictionary)

It throws a Attribute error: blahblah has no attribute named foobar

Could you please help me with it? Thanks in advance

Clearly, you have not posted the code that you're actually using, for whatever reason. That's fine. But based on your post, there's nothing wrong. Are you sure that there's not a typo in your real code (perhaps you accidentally spelled foobar as fubar, etc)? — inspectorG4dget
– inspectorG4dget, Commented Oct 26, 2012 at 21:35
This error can only occur if foobar is not a method defined inside blahblah. Since you assert that it is defined as such, you should not be seeing this error. Are you sure that foobar is defined inside blahblah in your real code? — inspectorG4dget
– inspectorG4dget, Commented Oct 26, 2012 at 21:39
Have you defined blahblah twice? Once with foobar defined, and once without? (i.e. overriding your previous definition) — Wilduck
– Wilduck, Commented Oct 26, 2012 at 21:41
@user1778309 please post the related excerpts from the real code. — Ashwini Chaudhary
– Ashwini Chaudhary, Commented Oct 26, 2012 at 21:41
Something you are assuming is true, is actually False. Take a look at dir(mod1.blahblah) (is foobar there?), dir(obj1) (is foobar there?), obj1.__class__ (is it mod1.blahblah?), obj1.__module__ (is it mod1?, etc. — unutbu
– unutbu, Commented Oct 26, 2012 at 21:45

3vi1 · Accepted Answer · 2012-12-26 22:14:12Z

43

The type of error you describe can be caused simply by mismatched indentation. If the method is at the very bottom of your class, move it up in the class a bit and the problem will become apparent.

When python interpreters run into mismatched indents (like say you started using tabs at the bottom of a file that was indented with spaces), the interpreter will not always throw an error; it can simply ignore the rest of the file. I ran into this just today while updating some old code where the original author used different whitespace chars (that happened to match my Geany tabs), and it threw me for a loop for a lot longer than I'd like to admit. :)

answered Dec 26, 2012 at 22:14

3vi1

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3 Comments

tompark Over a year ago

Thanks, this was helpful. I had the same issue where a mix of tabs and spaces were used for indentation in the file. I had read through a number of explanations without any resolution before finding your answer.

Louis R Over a year ago

For what it's worth, it can also happen when using the %autoreload magic command in jupyter notebook, when you modify some methods in your module code (ipython.org/ipython-doc/3/config/extensions/…)

Parvathy Sarat Over a year ago

This was helpful! Indentation was my issue as well.

freeagh · Accepted Answer · 2021-03-16 17:31:46Z

6

When I ran into this problem, I immediately started checking for unbalanced indents, tabs, etc... Everything seemed correct but the error continued to appear. I walked away, came back, took another look, and DUH..., I found that I had a typo. instead of __init__(), I had typed __inti__(). So check all of your constructor's syntax first.

answered Mar 16, 2021 at 17:31

freeagh

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1 Comment

David Morabito Over a year ago

I spent two hours until read this comments and gave it a try... My method was called "def __int__(self):" and Pycharm didn't care. Thanks!

maxgalbu · Accepted Answer · 2016-11-17 23:19:42Z

4

I had the same issue, and for me it happened when I moved the class file, but I left a .pyo file in the old folder, and python was still reading that .pyo file instead of reading the moved .py file.

answered Nov 17, 2016 at 23:19

maxgalbu

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Comments

jcsun · Accepted Answer · 2019-01-12 23:28:43Z

3

Very old question, but I quote @Jacquot 's comment since it solved my problem (I was using %autoreload in ipython).

For what it's worth, it can also happen when using the %autoreload magic command in jupyter notebook, when you modify some methods in your module code (ipython.org/ipython-doc/3/config/extensions/…)

In particular, I solved the problem re-running the cell that was importing my class.

answered Jan 12, 2019 at 23:28

jcsun

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Ruan Gato · Accepted Answer · 2020-07-01 13:35:25Z

3

Old question, but for those who are facing this problem and none of the other answers could help you, this could be helpful. I was using Pickle to save an entire class with some data inside it, and loading this class instance again, but I had added some class methods and attributes on init, that was why the interpreter couldn't find the new attributes described inside my class (It was loading the "old" class within the pickle object)

answered Jul 1, 2020 at 13:35

Ruan Gato

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1 Comment

autry.richard Over a year ago

This turned out to be my issue. Was not paying enough attention to what I had pickled and when.

javaNoob2792 · Accepted Answer · 2019-06-18 16:32:25Z

2

Faced the same issue until I realized I had named the classes in both the files with the same name - pretty dumb!

answered Jun 18, 2019 at 16:32

javaNoob2792

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3 Comments

RalfFriedl Over a year ago

Are you sure that is the problem in the question?

javaNoob2792 Over a year ago

I did not have the same problem - but did not find a solution too. Posted this, if someone else stumbles upon "MY" problem - they will find the solution in the same place.

Max von Hippel Over a year ago

This was exactly what I did - and worth mentioning, as Python doesn't error when you redefine a class. Thanks.

Rowan Gontier · Accepted Answer · 2022-02-04 23:44:55Z

2

For Jupyter notebooks using VSCode, what worked for me is to restart VSCode after changes to the imported file.

answered Feb 4, 2022 at 23:44

Rowan Gontier

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Cristian Avendaño · Accepted Answer · 2021-09-29 19:56:05Z

1

In my case, I just added ClassName to the method call, and it started working:

Wrong:

import Clases.Class_filename as LWD
articles=LWD.method_name(parameters)

Corrected:

import Clases.ClassName as LWD
articles=LWD.ClassName.method_name(parameters)

And the Clases/Class_filename.py contains something like this:

class ClassName :
    def method_name(parameters):
     ....

answered Sep 29, 2021 at 19:56

Cristian Avendaño

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