Python : Assert that variable is instance method?

Question

How can one check if a variable is an instance method or not? I\'m using python 2.5.

Something like this:

class Test:
    def method(self):
        p         


        

Answer 1

If you want to know if it is precisely an instance method use the following function. (It considers methods that are defined on a metaclass and accessed on a class class methods, although they could also be considered instance methods)

import types
def is_instance_method(obj):
    """Checks if an object is a bound method on an instance."""
    if not isinstance(obj, types.MethodType):
        return False # Not a method
    if obj.im_self is None:
        return False # Method is not bound
    if issubclass(obj.im_class, type) or obj.im_class is types.ClassType:
        return False # Method is a classmethod
    return True

Usually checking for that is a bad idea. It is more flexible to be able to use any callable() interchangeably with methods.