How Can I Determine the Type of an Object in Python?

Determining the Type of an Object

One may find themselves needing to determine the type of a variable, such as whether it's a list or a dictionary. Luckily, there are two built-in functions that aid in this task: type() and isinstance().

type() Function

The type() function returns the exact type of an object. This includes custom types, as demonstrated below:

type([])  # returns 'list'
type({})  # returns 'dict'
type('')  # returns 'str'
type(0)  # returns 'int'

isinstance() Function

Alternatively, isinstance() allows one to check an object's type against a specified type. It supports inheritance, unlike type().

class Test1(object):
    pass

class Test2(Test1):
    pass

a = Test1()
b = Test2()

isinstance(b, Test1)  # returns True
isinstance(b, Test2)  # returns True

Furthermore, isinstance() accepts a tuple of types, enabling multiple type checks simultaneously:

isinstance([], (tuple, list, set))  # returns True

Generally, isinstance() is preferred as it verifies type inheritance and allows for multiple type checks.

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