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What is the Pythonic way to determine the type of an object?

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What is the Pythonic way to determine the type of an object? Are there multiple valid ways, and when should each be used?

We have obj.__class__, an attribute bound to the object's class. Or is it? When is that true, and when should we not rely on it?

We have type(obj), calling the constructor for the type type in order to get a reference to the type of obj. Or is it? When is that true, and when should we not rely on it?

Are there other ways to get at the type of a Python object? What reasons are there to choose or avoid them?

posted Dec 16, 2013 by Majula Joshi

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