Python: Essential Reference, Third Edition

Built-in Types

Approximately two dozen types are built into the Python interpreter and grouped into a few major categories, as shown in Table 3.1. The Type Name column in the table lists the name that can be used to check for that type using isinstance() and other type-related functions. Types include familiar objects such as numbers and sequences. Others are used during program execution and are of little practical use to most programmers. The next few sections describe the most commonly used built-in types.

Table 3.1. Built-in Python Types

Type Category	Type Name	Description
None	types.NoneType	The null object None
Numbers	int	Integer
	long	Arbitrary-precision integer
	float	Floating point
	complex	Complex number
	bool	Boolean (True or False)
Sequences	str	Character ...