python: how to identify if a variable is an array or a scalar

Question

I have a function that takes the argument NBins. I want to make a call to this function with a scalar 50 or an array [0, 10, 20, 30].

Answer 1

Simply use size instead of len!

>>> from numpy import size
>>> N = [2, 3, 5]
>>> size(N)
3
>>> N = array([2, 3, 5])
>>> size(N)
3
>>> P = 5
>>> size(P)
1

Answer 2

>>> N=[2,3,5]
>>> P = 5
>>> type(P)==type(0)
True
>>> type([1,2])==type(N)
True
>>> type(P)==type([1,2])
False