Python | type method
Start your free 7-days trial now!
Python's type(~) method can return either the type of an existing object or return a new type object.
Parameters
Return type of existing object
1. object | object
The object whose type we want to return.
Return new type object
1. name | string
The class name. Becomes the __name__ attribute.
2. bases | tuple
A tuple to itemize the base class. Becomes the __bases__ attribute.
3. dict | dict
A dictionary that is the namespace containing definitions for class body. Becomes the __dict__ attribute.
Return value
The return value depends on the following cases:
Case | Return value |
|---|---|
Used with existing object | The type of the object |
Used to create a new object | A new type object |
Examples
Type of existing object
To return the type of object "abcdefg":
a = "abcdefg"type(a)
str
To return the type of object "my_dog":
class Doge(): # This is the constructor for Python def __init__(self, name, age): self.name = name self.age = age
my_dog = Doge("Roxas", 26)type(my_dog)
__main__.Doge
As we can see, we can also return the type for custom class objects.
Create a new object
To create a new object with 'Doge' __name__ attribute:
Doge = type('Doge', (object,), dict(a=1))print(Doge)
<class '__main__.Doge'>
The above piece of code is essentially identical to:
<class '__main__.Doge'>
