title: Integer difference in python between two dates
body: <p>I've RTFM and read many questions and answers here on SO regarding this, and was happily using strftime and strptime yesterday, so I would swear this should work, but it isn't....</p>
  
  <p>I just want an integer.  Not a "timedelta object."  Not an "aware yet hashable object" (see, I RTFM).   Not a tuple.  Not a dictionary.   Just a simple freaking integer so I can use an if statement and branch and be happy.  Please bring the light of your wisdom upon this, with thanks.</p>
  
  <p>Here's what I have</p>
  
  <pre><code>...
  import datetime
  mdate = "2010-10-05"
  rdate = "2010-10-05"
  mdate1 = datetime.strptime(mdate, "%Y-%m-%d")
  rdate1 = datetime.strptime(rdate, "%Y-%m-%d")
  delta =  datetime.timedelta.days(mdate1 - rdate1)
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Here's what I get:</p>
  
  <pre><code>pmain.py:4: AttributeError: 'module' object has no attribute 'strptime'
  (error hits in the 'mdate1..." line above)
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>And, that doesn't mean that my delta line is going to work -- please look at that one, too.</p>