How to determine a Python variable's type?

 

In Python, you can determine the type of a variable using the type() function or the isinstance() function. Here are examples of both methods:

Using the type() function:

The type() function returns the type of an object. Here's an example:

python

# Define variables of different types
integer_variable = 42
string_variable = "Hello, world!"
list_variable = [1, 2, 3]
dict_variable = {"name": "John", "age": 30}

# Determine the types of variables
print(type(integer_variable))  # <class 'int'>
print(type(string_variable))   # <class 'str'>
print(type(list_variable))     # <class 'list'>
print(type(dict_variable))     # <class 'dict'>

In this example, we use type() to determine the types of different variables.

Using the isinstance() function:

The isinstance() function is used to check if an object is an instance of a particular class or type. It returns a boolean value (True or False). Here's an example:

python

# Define variables of different types
integer_variable = 42
string_variable = "Hello, world!"
list_variable = [1, 2, 3]
dict_variable = {"name": "John", "age": 30}

# Check if variables are of specific types
print(isinstance(integer_variable, int))      # True
print(isinstance(string_variable, str))        # True
print(isinstance(list_variable, list))         # True
print(isinstance(dict_variable, dict))         # True

# You can also use isinstance() for multiple types
print(isinstance(integer_variable, (int, float)))  # True, since int is a subclass of float

In this example, we use isinstance() to check if variables belong to specific types or classes. Note that you can also pass a tuple of types to check against multiple types simultaneously.

These methods allow you to determine the type of a Python variable, which can be useful for making decisions or performing type-specific operations in your code.