Difference between `isinstance(x, y)` and `x.class == y`

Asked Jul 24 '20 at 10:53

Active Aug 05 '20 at 12:13

Viewed 57 times

I am familiar with the difference between type(x) and x.__class__ but couldn't find an answer to the question if there is any difference between these two ways of checking whether x is, say, a dictionary:

isinstance(x, dict)

x.__class__ == dict

So far, in my experience, the two can be used interchangeably but I would like to know whether there are cases where the results differ, giving rise to a preference for one of both.

Edit: alaniwi gave the accepted answer that isinstance() also returns True if the object is an instance of a subclass of the class tested against.

edited Aug 05 '20 at 12:13

asked Jul 24 '20 at 10:53

Jeyes Unterwegs

2

Try it with a defaultdict. – user2357112 Jul 24 '20 at 10:54
1

Or a `Counter`. – jonrsharpe Jul 24 '20 at 10:55
1

More generally, `isinstance(obj, cls)` will return `True` if `obj` is an instance of a subclass of `cls` (as alternative to `cls` itself). – alani Jul 24 '20 at 10:56

Difference between `isinstance(x, y)` and `x.__class__ == y`

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Difference between `isinstance(x, y)` and `x.class == y`