How to check if string input is a number? [duplicate]

Answer 1

Why not divide the input by a number? This way works with everything. Negatives, floats, and negative floats. Also Blank spaces and zero.

numList = [499, -486, 0.1255468, -0.21554, 'a', "this", "long string here", "455 street area", 0, ""]

for item in numList:

    try:
        print (item / 2) #You can divide by any number really, except zero
    except:
        print "Not A Number: " + item

Result:

249
-243
0.0627734
-0.10777
Not A Number: a
Not A Number: this
Not A Number: long string here
Not A Number: 455 street area
0
Not A Number: