{"id":20857,"date":"2020-08-05T23:42:57","date_gmt":"2020-08-06T06:42:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/?p=20857"},"modified":"2023-12-01T03:57:21","modified_gmt":"2023-12-01T11:57:21","slug":"python-typeerror-module-object-is-not-callable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/python-typeerror-module-object-is-not-callable\/","title":{"rendered":"Python TypeError: \u2018module\u2019 object is not callable Solution"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Python<\/a> modules are confusing, especially when you define your own. \u201cTypeError: \u2018module\u2019 object is not callable\u201d is one of the most common mistakes that Python developers make when working with classes.
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In this guide, we talk about what this error means and why it is raised. We walk through an example code snippet to help you overcome this error. Let\u2019s begin!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Problem: TypeError: \u2018module\u2019 object is not callable<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Any Python file is a module as long as it ends in the extension \u201c.py\u201d.
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Modules<\/a> are a crucial part of Python because they let you define functions, variables, and classes outside of a main program. This means you can divide your code up into multiple files and categorize it more effectively.
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Modules must be imported in a certain way. Otherwise, Python returns an error:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TypeError: 'module' object is not callable<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n\n
This happens when you try to import a module as a function.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Example Scenario<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Define a module called \u201ccakes\u201d. This module contains one function: read_file. The read_file function will read the contents of a text file.
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Our filename determines the name of our module. Because we want our module to be called \u201ccakes\u201d, we write our code in a file called cakes.py:
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def read_file():\n\tall_cakes = []\n\twith open("cakes.txt", "r") as cake_file:\n\t\tcake_list = cake_file.readlines()\n\t\tfor c in cake_list:\n\t\t\tall_cakes.append(c.replace("\\n", ""))\n\n\treturn all_cakes<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n\n
This function reads the contents of a file<\/a> called \u201ccakes.txt\u201d. It then iterates through every line of text in the file and adds each line to a list called \u201call_cakes\u201d.
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The replace()<\/a> method is used to replace any new line (\u201c\\n\u201d) characters with an empty value. This removes all new lines. We return \u201call_cakes\u201d at the end of our function.
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Now, open a file called app.py and paste in this code:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
import cakes\n\ncake_list = cakes()\nprint(cake_list)<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n\n
This code uses our \u201ccakes\u201d module to read the contents of the \u201ccakes.txt\u201d file. It then prints out all the cakes the function has found in the file.
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Let\u2019s run our code:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Traceback (most recent call last):\n  File "main.py", line 3, in <module>\n\tcakes = cakes()\nTypeError: 'module' object is not callable<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Our code returns an error.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Solution<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Let\u2019s take a look at the import statement<\/a> in our app.py file:
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import cakes<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n\n
We import the module \u201ccakes\u201d. This contains all of the variables, classes, and functions that we declare in the \u201ccakes.py\u201d file.
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Now, let\u2019s look at our next line of code:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
cake_list = cakes()<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Although the \u201ccakes\u201d module only contains one function, we don\u2019t specify what that function is. This confuses Python because it does not know what function it should work with.
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To solve this error, we call the name of the function we want to reference instead of the module itself:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
import cakes\n\ncake_list = cakes.read_file()\nprint(cake_list)<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Let\u2019s try to run our code again:
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['Cinnamon Babka', 'Chocolate Cupcake']<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Our code successfully returns the list of cakes.
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In our app.py file, we call cakes.read_file().
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Python looks at the file \u201ccakes.py\u201d where our \u201ccakes\u201d module is stored and locates the read_file()<\/code> function. Then, Python executes that function<\/a>.
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We assign the result of the read_file()<\/code> function to a variable<\/a> called \u201ccake_list\u201d. Then, we print out that list to the console.
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Alternatively, import the read_file function directly into our program:
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from cakes import read_file\n\ncake_list = read_file()\nprint(cake_list)<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Our code returns:
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['Cinnamon Babka', 'Chocolate Cupcake']<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Our code executes the read_file()<\/code> function from the \u201ccakes\u201d module. In this example, we import the whole \u201ccakes\u201d module. Instead of doing so, we import one function from the \u201ccakes\u201d module: read_file.
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Notice that when we import read_file, we no longer need to use cakes.read_file()<\/code> to call our function. We use read_file()<\/code> because we import the read_file()<\/code> function directly into our code.<\/p>\n\n\n\n