The types module

This module contains type objects for all object types defined by the standard interpreter. All objects of the same type share a single type object, so you can use is to test if an object has a given type.

Example: Using the types module

# File: types-example-1.py

import types

def check(object):
    print object,
    if type(object) is types.IntType:
        print "INTEGER",
    if type(object) is types.FloatType:
        print "FLOAT",
    if type(object) is types.StringType:
        print "STRING",
    if type(object) is types.ClassType:
        print "CLASS",
    if type(object) is types.InstanceType:
        print "INSTANCE",
    print

check(0)
check(0.0)
check("0")

class A:
    pass

class B:
    pass

check(A)
check(B)

a = A()
b = B()

check(a)
check(b)

0 INTEGER
0.0 FLOAT
0 STRING
A CLASS
B CLASS
<A instance at 796960> INSTANCE
<B instance at 796990> INSTANCE

Note that all classes have the same type, and so do all instances. To test what class hierarchy a class or an instance belongs to, use the built-in issubclass and isinstance functions.

In older versions of Python, the types module destroys the current exception state when it is first imported. Avoid importing the module (or any module that imports it!) from within an exception handler.

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