Checking Type in Python [Guide]

This article explains how to check the type of a variable in the Python programming language.

What are Types?

The type of a variable determines what it can or can’t do.

It determines what value the variable may take and what can be done with that value.

Using the type() Function

Pass a variable or value to the type() function, and the variable’s type will be returned:

myNumber = 4
type(myNumber) # int

myString = 'foo'
type(myString) # str

Using the isinstance() Function

For more examples, check out the similar isinstance() function:

To compare the type of a variable to a known type, you can use the isinstance() function.