isinstance()

[Grant Edwards]

On 2023-08-04, Chris Angelico via Python-list <python-list at python.org> wrote:
> On Sat, 5 Aug 2023 at 09:36, dn via Python-list <python-list at python.org> wrote:
>
>> Faced with a situation where an argument may be a scalar-value or an
>> iterable, I'll presume the latter, eg throw it straight into a for-loop.
>> If that fails (because the argument is a scalar), use try-except to
>> re-route the logic.
>
> That's great as long as you aren't expecting to handle strings.

If you do that, you're obviously not expecting to handle strings. The
problem happens when you're not expecting to handle strings, and you
get passed one anyway.

It's like the Spanish Inquisition...

> The string "spam" is sometimes equivalent to the list ["s", "p",
> "a", "m"] and sometimes not.

And b"ABCD" is sometimes equivalent to the list [65,66,67,68] and
sometimes not.

Been there, fell in that hole.

More than a few times. :/

Famous Last Words: "I wasn't expecting to handle strings -- but I
should have been..."

--
Grant