How to fix "'pandas.compat' has no attribute 'string_types'" error in python3

Question

I am watching this tutorial where I am trying to use iexfinance to get stock data. You have the option to choose the data type when requesting the data, I chose "pandas". When I run the built-in function I get an error that reads AttributeError: module 'pandas.compat' has no attribute 'string_types'

I am using python 3.7. I have uninstalled and reinstalled both iexfinance and pandas. I also created and IEX cloud account and passed in a secret key like the documentation states, but the same error. The tutorial doesn't mention any of these steps and its confusing why his works and mine isn't.

I have tried to make the code simpler by following examples on the website: Even when running:

from iexfinance.stocks import Stock

df = Stock("AAPL", output_format="pandas")

print(df.get_quote().head())

The error persists

The expected output is:

                      AAPL
avgTotalVolume    30578248
calculationPrice     close
change               -0.58
changePercent     -0.00298
close               207.27

The output I am receiving is:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "app.py", line 18, in <module>
    df = Stock("AAPL", output_format="pandas")
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.7/lib/python3.7/site-packages/iexfinance/stocks/base.py", line 45, in __init__
    self.symbols = list(map(lambda x: x.upper(), _handle_lists(symbols)))
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.7/lib/python3.7/site-packages/iexfinance/utils/__init__.py", line 43, in _handle_lists
    if isinstance(l, (compat.string_types, int)):
AttributeError: module 'pandas.compat' has no attribute 'string_types'

Answer 1

You can try reverting the pandas version to 0.24.2 as a workaround:

pip install pandas==0.24.2

At this point I am still not sure if a bug in pandas or something else.

EDIT: Probably the iexfinance is using some internals in Pandas, and pandas has undergone a major change dropping python 2 and all the compatibility code.

This is also already on their issue tracker: https://github.com/addisonlynch/iexfinance/issues/163