How can I tell if a python variable is a string or a list?

Question

I have a routine that takes a list of strings as a parameter, but I\'d like to support passing in a single string and converting it to a list of one string. For example:

Answer 1

Well, there's nothing unpythonic about checking type. Having said that, if you're willing to put a small burden on the caller:

def func( *files ):
    for f in files:
         doSomethingWithFile( f )

func( *['file1','file2','file3'] ) #Is treated like func('file1','file2','file3')
func( 'file1' )

I'd argue this is more pythonic in that "explicit is better than implicit". Here there is at least a recognition on the part of the caller when the input is already in list form.