#!/usr/bin/env python3
"""Date Normalizer Plugin"""
import pandas as pd
from typing import Optional

class DateNormalizer:
    """Normalizes date columns to a standard format."""
    def normalize(self, df: pd.DataFrame, date_column: str = 'date', format: Optional[str] = None) -> pd.DataFrame:
        df = df.copy()
        if date_column not in df.columns:
            return df
        try:
            df[date_column] = pd.to_datetime(df[date_column], format=format, errors='coerce')
            return df
        except Exception as e:
            print(f"Date normalization failed for column {date_column}: {e}")
            return df