How to Check Type of Variable in Python

1. Checking Variable Type With Type() built-in function

what is type()

type() is a python built function that returns the type of objects

syntax

type(object)

Example 1: Getting the type of variable

""" in this code, we have many different types of variables """

#list
variable_1 = [1, 2, 3]

#string
variable_2 = "hello programmers"   

#tuple
variable_3 = (1, 2, 3)

#dictionry
variable_4 = {"hello":"programmers"}

As you can see, in the above code we have many different variables,
now let's get the type of these variables.

""" in this code, we'll get the type of our variables  """

print(type(variable_1))

print(type(variable_2))

print(type(variable_3))

print(type(variable_4))

output

<class 'list'>

<class 'str'>

<class 'tuple'>

<class 'dict'>

If you want to know all types of objects in python, you'll find it in the final part of the article.

Example 2: checking if the type of variable is a string

let's say that you want to test or check if a variable is a string, see the code bellow

""" in this code, we'll check if a variable is a string """

#variable
variable_2 = "hello programmers"

#check the typle of variable_2
if type(variable_2) is str:
    print("Yes it is")
    

output

Yes it is

As you can see, the code works very well, but this is not the best way to do that.
Remember!, if you want to check the type of variable, you should use isinstance() built function.

2. Checking Variable Type With isinstance() built-in function

what is isinstance()

The isinstance() is a built-in function that check the type of object and return True or False

sytnax

isinstance(object, type)

example 1: checking variables type

""" in this code, we'll check or test the variable's type """

#list
list_var = [1, 2, 3]

#string
string_var = "hello programmers"   

#tuple
tuple_var = (1, 2, 3)

#dictionry
dictionry_var = {"hello":"programmers"}



#check if "list_var" is list
print(isinstance(list_var, list))

#check if "string_var" is tuple
print(isinstance(string_var, tuple))

#check if "tuple_var" is tuple
print(isinstance(tuple_var, tuple))

#check if "dictionry_var" is dictionary
print(isinstance(dictionry_var, dict))

output

True
False
True
True

example 2: Doing something after checking variable type

""" in this code, we'll print 'Yes' if the  variable is a string  """

#string
string_var = "hello programmers"   

if isinstance(string_var, str) == True:
    print("Yes")

output

Yes

3. When you should use isinstance() and type()

if you want to get type of object use type() function.

if you want to check type of object use isinstance() function

4. Data Types in Python

str 

int

float

complex

list

tuple

range

dict

bool

bytes