Determine the type of a Python variable
David Y.
—The Problem
How can I determine a Python variable’s type?
The Solution
We can determine a Python variable’s type using the built-in function type(). This will work for built-in types as well as our own classes. Some examples are given below:
my_integer = 1 print(type(my_integer)) # will print "<class 'int'>" my_float = 1.1 print(type(my_float)) # will print "<class 'float'>" my_string = "Hello world!" print(type(my_string)) # will print "<class 'str'>" class MyClass: pass my_class_instance = MyClass() print(type(my_class_instance)) # will print "<class '__main__.MyClass'>"
As per the Python documentation, the function isinstance() should be used when testing whether a variable is of a specific class, as it takes subclasses into account, which type() does not.
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