AttributeError module 'requests' has no attribute 'post'

AttributeError module 'requests' has no attribute 'post' #

The Python "AttributeError module 'requests' has no attribute 'post'" occurs when we have a local file named requests.py and try to import from the requests module. To solve the error, make sure to rename any local files named requests.py.

Here is an example of how the error occurs in a file called requests.py.

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import requests


def make_request():
    # ⛔️ AttributeError: module 'requests' has no attribute 'post'
    res = requests.post(
        'https://reqres.in/api/users',
        data={'name': 'John Smith', 'job': 'manager'}
    )

    print(res.json())


make_request()

The most likely cause of the error is having a local file named requests.py which shadows the official requests module.

Make sure to rename your local file to something other than requests.py to solve the error.

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import requests


def make_request():
    res = requests.post(
        'https://reqres.in/api/users',
        data={'name': 'John Smith', 'job': 'manager'}
    )

    print(res.json())


# ✅ Works
make_request()

Another thing to look out for is having an incorrect import statement. If you do import requests, then access the post method as requests.post(...).

The Python interpreter first looks for the imported module in the built-in modules, then in the current directory, then in the PYTHON PATH, then in the installation-dependent default directory.

You can access the __file__ property on the imported module to see whether it is shadowed by a local file.

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import requests

print(requests.__file__)


# ⛔️ result if shadowed by local file
# /home/borislav/Desktop/bobbyhadz_python/requests.py

# ✅ result if pulling in correct module
# /home/borislav/Desktop/bobbyhadz_python/venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/requests/__init__.py

A good way to start debugging is to print(dir(your_module)) and see what attributes the imported module has.

Here is what printing the attributes of the requests module looks like when I have a file requests.py in the same directory.

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import requests

# ['__builtins__', '__cached__', '__doc__', '__file__',
# '__loader__', '__name__', '__package__', '__spec__']
print(dir(requests))

If you pass a module object to the dir() function, it returns a list of names of the module's attributes.

We can see that the imported requests module doesn't have the post attribute, which makes it evident that we are shadowing the official requests module with our local requests.py file.

If you try to import the requests module in a file called requests.py, you would get a little different error message that means the same thing.

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import requests


def make_request():
    # ⛔️ AttributeError: partially initialized module 'requests' has no attribute 'post' (most likely due to a circular import)
    res = requests.post(
        'https://reqres.in/api/users',
        data={'name': 'John Smith', 'job': 'manager'}
    )

    print(res.json())


make_request()

Renaming your file solves the error.

Conclusion #

The Python "AttributeError module 'requests' has no attribute 'post'" occurs when we have a local file named requests.py and try to import from the requests module. To solve the error, make sure to rename any local files named requests.py.