Can't import annotations from future

Question

When running the statement

from __future__ import annotations

I get the following error:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/python3.5/py_compile.py", line 125, in compile
    _optimize=optimize)
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap_external>", line 735, in source_to_code
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 222, in _call_with_frames_removed
  File "./prog.py", line 1
    from __future__ import annotations
    ^
SyntaxError: future feature annotations is not defined

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<string>", line 1, in <module>
  File "/usr/lib/python3.5/py_compile.py", line 129, in compile
    raise py_exc
py_compile.PyCompileError:   File "./prog.py", line 1
    from __future__ import annotations
                                     ^
SyntaxError: future feature annotations is not defined

What could be the cause of this error?

Ralf · Accepted Answer · 2018-10-19 10:01:21Z

73

Looking at your error traceback, it looks like you are using python 3.5. Is that the case?

If so, then the error happens because according to PEP-563 the import of __future__ annotations is available starting with Python 3.7.

I did not find any hints that this will be backported to previous versions, but I might have missed that.

answered Oct 19, 2018 at 10:01

Ralf

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8 Comments

Paebbels Over a year ago

This future feature is also missing in Python 3.6. Why isn't it back ported? If I use annotations, they are widely supported in 3.7, so no need for a future. If I run my code on an older Python, both, the annotations and the future are not supported. So why this future?

Matthias Over a year ago

Mabe because those annotations are planned for Python 4.0.

Quickbeam2k1 Over a year ago

the future import is not about annotations, it's about postponed evaluation of annotations.

SiHa Over a year ago

For anyone coming along now, this appears to have been back-ported to 3.6.9

wheeler Over a year ago

I don't think it is. Running Python 3.6.9 and I am still getting SyntaxError: future feature annotations is not defined

|

anask · Accepted Answer · 2023-07-20 18:31:28Z

2

If it happens with Python 3.6, do:

pip3 install --upgrade pip

or

pip install --upgrade pip

answered Jul 20, 2023 at 18:31

anask

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