Published: October 26, 2023
\n\"\"\"\n\ndate_from_url = find_date(url=url, html=html_content)\nprint(f\"Date extracted from URL: {date_from_url}\")\n\n# Example 2: Extract original publication date (if available and different from updated)\n# The 'originaldate' parameter hints the extractor to prioritize the earliest date.\nhtml_content_updated = \"\"\"\n\n\nPublished: October 26, 2023
Last Updated: March 15, 2024
\n\"\"\"\noriginal_date = find_date(html=html_content_updated, originaldate=True)\nupdated_date = find_date(html=html_content_updated, originaldate=False)\n\nprint(f\"Original Date: {original_date}\")\nprint(f\"Updated Date: {updated_date}\")","lang":"python","description":"To use `htmldate`, import the `find_date` function. It can extract dates directly from a URL or from an HTML string. When providing an HTML string, it's often useful to also provide the `url` parameter for better relative path resolution and more accurate heuristics. The `originaldate` parameter allows you to prioritize the earliest found date (original publication) over potentially updated dates."},"warnings":[{"fix":"Ensure your project runs on Python 3.8 or a newer version.","message":"As of `v1.9.0`, htmldate officially focuses on and requires Python 3.8 or newer. Older Python versions are no longer supported and may encounter compatibility issues or installation failures.","severity":"breaking","affected_versions":">=1.9.0"},{"fix":"Review your code if you used `originaldate=True` in versions prior to `1.7.0` and verify the extracted dates are as expected after upgrading.","message":"The `originaldate` parameter behavior was fixed in `v1.7.0` to more accurately distinguish between original publication dates and updated dates from meta properties. If you relied on the previous behavior (pre-1.7.0) for this distinction, your results might change.","severity":"gotcha","affected_versions":"<1.7.0"},{"fix":"Be aware that date extraction results might vary for some URLs when upgrading from versions older than `1.6.0` due to refined heuristics. Evaluate critical extractions after upgrade.","message":"In `v1.6.0`, the library introduced stricter extraction patterns and replaced `lxml.html.Cleaner` for a focus on precision. This might result in `htmldate` no longer finding a date on some pages where it previously did, or extracting a different (and potentially more accurate) date.","severity":"gotcha","affected_versions":"<1.6.0"},{"fix":"Ensure `requests` is correctly installed in your environment. Installing `htmldate` via `pip install htmldate` within a dedicated virtual environment is the recommended approach to automatically resolve and install its dependencies.","message":"The `requests` library, a mandatory dependency for `htmldate`, was not found in the environment, leading to a `ModuleNotFoundError` and preventing `htmldate` from functioning. This typically indicates an incomplete installation or an improperly configured environment where dependencies are not automatically resolved.","severity":"breaking","affected_versions":">=0.1.0"},{"fix":"Ensure the 'requests' library is installed in your Python environment. When installing 'htmldate' via pip, 'requests' should be automatically installed as a dependency. If running custom scripts, explicitly install 'requests' (e.g., `pip install requests`).","message":"The 'htmldate' library critically depends on the 'requests' package. Failure to install 'requests' will result in a 'ModuleNotFoundError', preventing 'htmldate' from functioning.","severity":"breaking","affected_versions":"all"}],"env_vars":null,"search_vec":"'activ':26 'address':33 'bug':34 'content':54 'date':18,44 'date-extract':43 'depend':36 'design':7 'extract':12,41,45 'fast':9 'fix':35 'frequent':29 'heurist':42 'html':50 'html-pars':49 'htmldate':1,2 'improv':39 'librari':6 'maintain':27 'minor':30 'often':32 'origin':14 'page':23 'pars':51 'public':17 'python':5 'releas':31 'robust':11 'scrape':48 'updat':16,37 'url':20 'web':22,47,53 'web-cont':52 'web-scrap':46","created_at":"2026-04-09T03:50:52.113120+00:00","updated_at":"2026-04-16T15:36:34.138585+00:00","problems":[{"fix":"Reinstall `lxml` to ensure a clean and compatible installation: `pip uninstall lxml` followed by `pip install lxml`. If using a specific Python 3 environment, use `pip3`.","cause":"This error often occurs when the `lxml` library, a core dependency of `htmldate` for HTML parsing, is either not properly installed, has a corrupted installation, or an incompatible version, preventing the `etree` module from being imported correctly.","error":"ImportError: cannot import name etree"},{"fix":"First, update `htmldate` to the latest version (`pip install -U htmldate`) as bug fixes related to date extraction heuristics are frequent. If the issue persists, the target webpage may genuinely lack discernible date metadata for the library to find.","cause":"The `find_date()` function returns `None` when it cannot successfully extract a publication or modification date from the provided URL or HTML content. This can be due to the absence of clear date patterns on the webpage, an unsupported website structure, or a bug in an older version of the `htmldate` library.","error":"htmldate.find_date() returns None"},{"fix":"Install the `htmldate` package using pip: `pip install htmldate`. If already installed, verify that you are running your script with the Python interpreter where `htmldate` was installed (e.g., by activating the correct virtual environment).","cause":"This error indicates that the `htmldate` package is not installed in the Python environment currently being used, or the Python interpreter cannot locate the installed package.","error":"ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'htmldate'"},{"fix":"If encountering issues with the `[speed]` extra, install `htmldate` without it: `pip install htmldate`. `htmldate` will then fall back to `charset_normalizer` for character detection, which is typically more broadly compatible. If `cchardet` was partially installed and causing issues, uninstall it explicitly: `pip uninstall cchardet`.","cause":"The optional `[speed]` installation attempts to install `cchardet` for faster character encoding detection, but `cchardet` can have compilation or compatibility issues on certain platforms (e.g., some macOS versions), leading to installation failures or runtime problems.","error":"pip install htmldate[speed] fails or cchardet issues"}],"ecosystem":"pypi","meta_description":null,"install_score":100,"quickstart_score":null,"quickstart_tag":null,"pypi_latest":"1.10.0","cli_name":"htmldate","cli_version":"Htmldate 1.9.4 - Python 3.11.15","type":"library","homepage":"https://htmldate.readthedocs.io","github":"https://github.com/adbar/htmldate","docs":null,"changelog":null,"pypi":"https://pypi.org/project/htmldate/","npm":null,"openapi_spec":null,"status_page":null,"smithery":null,"categories":["data","web-framework"],"base_url":null,"auth_type":null,"provenance":{"verified_status":"passing","verified_at":"2026-06-28","last_verified":"2026-06-28","next_check":"2026-07-28","install_tag":"verified"}}