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Introspection

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Built-in functions are grouped in the so-called __builtin__ module. Everything is imported from this module automatically. See also http://docs.python.org/library/functions.html#built-in-functions for a complete list of the built-in functions.

type: (see also http://docs.python.org/library/functions.html#type)

print type(1)     # <type 'int'>

dct = {}
print type(dct)   # <type 'dict'>

Testing the type of an object: (see also http://docs.python.org/library/types.html#module-types)

import types

dct = {}
print type(dct)   # <type 'dict'>
print type(dct) == types.DictType   # True

dir: (see also http://docs.python.org/library/functions.html#dir)

li = []
print dir(li)
# ['append', 'count', 'extend', 'index', 'insert', 'pop', 'remove', 'reverse', 'sort']

Returns a list of attribute names and method names defined by the given object. The returned value is a list of strings.

callable: (see also http://docs.python.org/library/functions.html#callable)

import string
print callable(string.join)   # True
i = 2
print callable(i)   # False

getattr: (see also http://docs.python.org/library/functions.html#getattr)

li = [1, 2]
print li
# [1, 2]
p = getattr(li, "append")   # p is a reference to the append function of the li object
print p
# <built-in method append of list object at 0xb7cced0c>
p(4)   # it's like calling li.append(4)
print li
# [1, 2, 4]