check if varible is either of type string or int

Question

I am trying to check whether variable data is either of type string or integer so that i can work on it.If its none of the above it is supposed to return false. I have tried to use isinstance but it requires data to be of both types which is impossible. Any better method of doing it? Here is my code:

     if isinstance(data(int, str)):
         return True
     else:
         return false

Answer 1

You could use boolean or :

>>> isinstance(3,int) or isinstance(3,str)
True
>>> isinstance("3",int) or isinstance("3",str)
True
>>> isinstance([3],int) or isinstance([3],str)
False

or specify a tuple of possible types :

>>> isinstance(3, (int, str))
True
>>> isinstance("3", (int, str))
True
>>> isinstance([3], (int, str))
False

So in your case, it wouldn't be :

isinstance(data(int, str))

but

isinstance(data, (int, str))

Answer 2

As a matter of fact,you can use a tuple of classes as 2nd argument to isinstance .

isinstance(var,(list,int))

isinstance(object, classinfo)

If classinfo is a tuple of class or type objects (or recursively, other such tuples), return true if object is an instance of any of the classes or types. If classinfo is not a class, type, or tuple of classes, types, and such tuples, a TypeError exception is raised.

Answer 3

You can use the isinstance(object, classinfo) built-in function.

This should do the job

def isStrOrInt(myVar):
  return isinstance(myVar,int) or isinstance(myVar,str)


print(isStrOrInt(5))   # True
print(isStrOrInt('5')) # True
print(isStrOrInt([]))  # False
print(isStrOrInt('Dinosaurs are Awesome!')) # True
print(isStrOrInt(3.141592653589793238462 )) # False (Because it's a decimal not an int)

Here's the running version: https://repl.it/Fw63/1

---

This is what the documentation says:

Return true if the object argument is an instance of the classinfo argument, or of a (direct, indirect or virtual) subclass thereof. If object is not an object of the given type, the function always returns false. If classinfo is a tuple of type objects (or recursively, other such tuples), return true if object is an instance of any of the types. If classinfo is not a type or tuple of types and such tuples, a TypeError exception is raised.

Basically, isinstance takes 2 parameters, the first is the variable you want to check, and the second is the data type/ class you want to check if it is an instance of (in your case int or str ). This tutorial explains it well.