How to check if a variable is list in Python

In this tutorial, we are going to learn about how to check if a variable is list in Python with the help of examples.

Consider, that we have the following variable in our code:

nums = [1,2,3]

Now, we need to check whether the above variable is a List.

Using type() function

To check if a variable is list or not, we can use the built-in type() function in Python.

The type() function takes the variable as an argument and returns the type of the following object.

Here is an example:

nums = [1, 2, 3]

if type(nums) == list:
    print('Variable is list')
else:
    print('Variable is not a list')

Output:

'Variable is list'

In the above code,

1. We have first initialized the variable with a list.

2. Then we used the == operator to check if both values refer to the same object.

If it returns True then it prints the variable is list, if the variable is not a list then it returns False and prints Variable is not a list.

Another example:

nums = (1, 2, 3)

if type(nums) == list:
    print('Variable is list')
else:
    print('Variable is not a list')

Output:

'Variable is not a list'

Using isinstance() function

Similarly, we can also use the isinstance() function in Python to check if a given variable is list.

The isinstance() function takes the two arguments, the first argument is object, and the second argument is type then It returns True if a given object is a specified type otherwise it returns False.

nums = [1, 2, 3]

if  isinstance(nums, list):
    print('Variable is list')
else:
    print('Variable is not a list')