In python is there a way to check if a function is a “generator function” before calling it?

Question

Lets say I have two functions:

def foo():
  return \'foo\'

def bar():
  yield \'bar\'

The first one is a normal function, and the second i

Answer 1

>>> def foo():
...   return 'foo'
... 
>>> def bar():
...   yield 'bar'
... 
>>> import dis
>>> dis.dis(foo)
  2           0 LOAD_CONST               1 ('foo')
              3 RETURN_VALUE        
>>> dis.dis(bar)
  2           0 LOAD_CONST               1 ('bar')
              3 YIELD_VALUE         
              4 POP_TOP             
              5 LOAD_CONST               0 (None)
              8 RETURN_VALUE        
>>> 

As you see, the key difference is that the bytecode for bar will contain at least one YIELD_VALUE opcode. I recommend using the dis module (redirecting its output to a StringIO instance and checking its getvalue, of course) because this provides you a measure of robustness over bytecode changes -- the exact numeric values of the opcodes will change, but the disassembled symbolic value will stay pretty stable;-).