How do I test if an object is a sequence?

[Skip Montanaro]

    Max> Then there is the approach of testing for a method that they all
    Max> share.  The only one that springs to mind is the slice operation.

    Max> def is_sequence(object)
    Max>      try:
    Max>          test = object[0:0]
    Max>      except:
    Max>          return False
    Max>      else:
    Max>          return True

    Max> But it has the disadvantage that string also are sequences. But not
    Max> exactly the kind I am interrested in.

    Max> So it will need to be expanded to:

    Max> from types import StringTypes
    Max> def is_sequence(unknown):
    Max>      if isinstance(unknown, StringTypes):
    Max>          return False
    Max>      try:
    Max>          test = object[0:0]
    Max>          return True
    Max>      except:
    Max>          return False

    Max> But that looks kind of ugly for a "simple" type check.

    Max> There must be a better way?

Not really.  You're better off testing for whatever operations you want to
perform.  You run the risk of overlapping with mapping objects, but that's
life.

Skip