1 :mod:`types` --- Names for built-in types 2 ========================================= 3 4 .. module:: types 5 :synopsis: Names for built-in types. 6 7 **Source code:** :source:`Lib/types.py` 8 9 -------------- 10 11 This module defines names for some object types that are used by the standard 12 Python interpreter, but not for the types defined by various extension modules. 13 Also, it does not include some of the types that arise during processing such as 14 the ``listiterator`` type. It is safe to use ``from types import *`` --- the 15 module does not export any names besides the ones listed here. New names 16 exported by future versions of this module will all end in ``Type``. 17 18 Typical use is for functions that do different things depending on their 19 argument types, like the following:: 20 21 from types import * 22 def delete(mylist, item): 23 if type(item) is IntType: 24 del mylist[item] 25 else: 26 mylist.remove(item) 27 28 Starting in Python 2.2, built-in factory functions such as :func:`int` and 29 :func:`str` are also names for the corresponding types. This is now the 30 preferred way to access the type instead of using the :mod:`types` module. 31 Accordingly, the example above should be written as follows:: 32 33 def delete(mylist, item): 34 if isinstance(item, int): 35 del mylist[item] 36 else: 37 mylist.remove(item) 38 39 The module defines the following names: 40 41 42 .. data:: NoneType 43 44 The type of ``None``. 45 46 47 .. data:: TypeType 48 49 .. index:: builtin: type 50 51 The type of type objects (such as returned by :func:`type`); alias of the 52 built-in :class:`type`. 53 54 55 .. data:: BooleanType 56 57 The type of the :class:`bool` values ``True`` and ``False``; alias of the 58 built-in :class:`bool`. 59 60 .. versionadded:: 2.3 61 62 63 .. data:: IntType 64 65 The type of integers (e.g. ``1``); alias of the built-in :class:`int`. 66 67 68 .. data:: LongType 69 70 The type of long integers (e.g. ``1L``); alias of the built-in :class:`long`. 71 72 73 .. data:: FloatType 74 75 The type of floating point numbers (e.g. ``1.0``); alias of the built-in 76 :class:`float`. 77 78 79 .. data:: ComplexType 80 81 The type of complex numbers (e.g. ``1.0j``). This is not defined if Python was 82 built without complex number support. 83 84 85 .. data:: StringType 86 87 The type of character strings (e.g. ``'Spam'``); alias of the built-in 88 :class:`str`. 89 90 91 .. data:: UnicodeType 92 93 The type of Unicode character strings (e.g. ``u'Spam'``). This is not defined 94 if Python was built without Unicode support. It's an alias of the built-in 95 :class:`unicode`. 96 97 98 .. data:: TupleType 99 100 The type of tuples (e.g. ``(1, 2, 3, 'Spam')``); alias of the built-in 101 :class:`tuple`. 102 103 104 .. data:: ListType 105 106 The type of lists (e.g. ``[0, 1, 2, 3]``); alias of the built-in 107 :class:`list`. 108 109 110 .. data:: DictType 111 112 The type of dictionaries (e.g. ``{'Bacon': 1, 'Ham': 0}``); alias of the 113 built-in :class:`dict`. 114 115 116 .. data:: DictionaryType 117 118 An alternate name for ``DictType``. 119 120 121 .. data:: FunctionType 122 LambdaType 123 124 The type of user-defined functions and functions created by :keyword:`lambda` 125 expressions. 126 127 128 .. data:: GeneratorType 129 130 The type of :term:`generator`-iterator objects, produced by calling a 131 generator function. 132 133 .. versionadded:: 2.2 134 135 136 .. data:: CodeType 137 138 .. index:: builtin: compile 139 140 The type for code objects such as returned by :func:`compile`. 141 142 143 .. data:: ClassType 144 145 The type of user-defined old-style classes. 146 147 148 .. data:: InstanceType 149 150 The type of instances of user-defined old-style classes. 151 152 153 .. data:: MethodType 154 155 The type of methods of user-defined class instances. 156 157 158 .. data:: UnboundMethodType 159 160 An alternate name for ``MethodType``. 161 162 163 .. data:: BuiltinFunctionType 164 BuiltinMethodType 165 166 The type of built-in functions like :func:`len` or :func:`sys.exit`, and 167 methods of built-in classes. (Here, the term "built-in" means "written in 168 C".) 169 170 171 .. data:: ModuleType 172 173 The type of modules. 174 175 176 .. data:: FileType 177 178 The type of open file objects such as ``sys.stdout``; alias of the built-in 179 :class:`file`. 180 181 182 .. data:: XRangeType 183 184 .. index:: builtin: xrange 185 186 The type of range objects returned by :func:`xrange`; alias of the built-in 187 :class:`xrange`. 188 189 190 .. data:: SliceType 191 192 .. index:: builtin: slice 193 194 The type of objects returned by :func:`slice`; alias of the built-in 195 :class:`slice`. 196 197 198 .. data:: EllipsisType 199 200 The type of ``Ellipsis``. 201 202 203 .. data:: TracebackType 204 205 The type of traceback objects such as found in ``sys.exc_traceback``. 206 207 208 .. data:: FrameType 209 210 The type of frame objects such as found in ``tb.tb_frame`` if ``tb`` is a 211 traceback object. 212 213 214 .. data:: BufferType 215 216 .. index:: builtin: buffer 217 218 The type of buffer objects created by the :func:`buffer` function. 219 220 221 .. data:: DictProxyType 222 223 The type of dict proxies, such as ``TypeType.__dict__``. 224 225 226 .. data:: NotImplementedType 227 228 The type of ``NotImplemented`` 229 230 231 .. data:: GetSetDescriptorType 232 233 The type of objects defined in extension modules with ``PyGetSetDef``, such 234 as ``FrameType.f_locals`` or ``array.array.typecode``. This type is used as 235 descriptor for object attributes; it has the same purpose as the 236 :class:`property` type, but for classes defined in extension modules. 237 238 .. versionadded:: 2.5 239 240 241 .. data:: MemberDescriptorType 242 243 The type of objects defined in extension modules with ``PyMemberDef``, such 244 as ``datetime.timedelta.days``. This type is used as descriptor for simple C 245 data members which use standard conversion functions; it has the same purpose 246 as the :class:`property` type, but for classes defined in extension modules. 247 248 .. impl-detail:: 249 250 In other implementations of Python, this type may be identical to 251 ``GetSetDescriptorType``. 252 253 .. versionadded:: 2.5 254 255 256 .. data:: StringTypes 257 258 A sequence containing ``StringType`` and ``UnicodeType`` used to facilitate 259 easier checking for any string object. Using this is more portable than using a 260 sequence of the two string types constructed elsewhere since it only contains 261 ``UnicodeType`` if it has been built in the running version of Python. For 262 example: ``isinstance(s, types.StringTypes)``. 263 264 .. versionadded:: 2.2 265
