How Can I Efficiently Check the Type of an Object in Python?

How to Determine Type in Python

When working with Python objects, it's often necessary to check their type to ensure they meet specific requirements or to perform different operations accordingly.

Checking Object Type with isinstance()

To determine if an object is of a particular type, use isinstance(). For instance, to check if an object o is an instance of str or a subclass of str:

if isinstance(o, str):
    # o is of type str or a subclass of str

Checking Exact Object Type with type()

To ascertain the exact type of an object, excluding subclasses, utilize type(). For example, to confirm that o's type is precisely str:

if type(o) is str:
    # o is of type str

Checking Type in Python 2

In Python 2, basestring offers a convenient way to check for strings:

if isinstance(o, basestring):
    # o is an instance of str or unicode

Alternative Method using Tuples

isinstance() also allows checking against multiple types. To determine if o is an instance of any subclass of str or unicode:

if isinstance(o, (str, unicode)):
    # o is an instance of str, unicode, or their subclasses

The above is the detailed content of How Can I Efficiently Check the Type of an Object in Python?. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!