Can I reference a class instance with a variable in Python?

Question

I have a list of class instances and I want to check if a particular instance in is in the list using a variable set at run time.

class Animal():
    def __init__(self, name):
        self.name = name

cat = Animal('cat')
dog = Animal('dog')
fish = Animal('fish')

animals = [cat, dog, fish]

assert dog in animals # True

target = 'dog'
assert target in animals # Error

Can this be done?

Answer 1

dog is an instance of the Animal class.

You could try loop through each of the classes and get the .name and compare like so:

class Animal():
    def __init__(self, name):
        self.name = name

cat = Animal('cat')
dog = Animal('dog')
fish = Animal('fish')

animals = [cat, dog, fish]

assert dog in animals # True

target = 'dog'

for class_obj in animals:
    print(target == class_obj.name)