[FIXED] Why does comparing these 2 dates fail in python when printed they are the same

Issue

I'm trying to compare 2 dates in python, when I print the dates they are the same but the comparison fails.

import datetime
today = datetime.date.today()
print today
print '2019-04-30'
d1 = today
d2 = '2019-04-30'
if d1 == d2:
    print 'match'
else:
    print 'nomatch'

Totally confused why dates that look the same but the comparison fails.

Solution

They're not the same. You can test it out by checking their types

type(d1)
<class 'datetime.date'>

type(d2)
<class 'str'>

Printing d1 gives you the same string because datetime objects have a __repr__ method that returns string.

Answered By - Adarsh Chavakula