How to check if a variable is either a python list, numpy array or pandas series

Question

I have a function that takes in a variable that would work if it is any of the following three types

 1. pandas Series  2. numpy array (ndarray)  3. python list 

Any other type should be rejected. What is the most efficient way to check this?

Answer 1

You can do it using isinstance:

import pandas as pd import numpy as np def f(l):     if isinstance(l,(list,pd.core.series.Series,np.ndarray)):         print(5)     else:         raise Exception('wrong type') 

Then f([1,2,3]) prints 5 while f(3.34) raises an error.

Answer 2

Python type() should do the job here

l = [1,2] s= pd.Series(l) arr = np.array(l)  

When you print

type(l) list  type(s) pandas.core.series.Series  type(arr) numpy.ndarray