diff --git a/gen_anchors.py b/gen_anchors.py
index c6e8e2cce..3ff4e96cb 100644
--- a/gen_anchors.py
+++ b/gen_anchors.py
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ def run_kmeans(ann_dims, anchor_num):
 
 def main(argv):
     config_path = args.conf
-    num_anchors = args.anchors
+    num_anchors = int(args.anchors)
 
     with open(config_path) as config_buffer:
         config = json.loads(config_buffer.read())