Check if a parameter is a Python module?

Question

How can I (pythonically) check if a parameter is a Python module? There\'s no type like module or package.

>>> os


        

Answer 1

A mix of @Greg Hewgill and @Lennart Regebro answers:

>>> from types import ModuleType
>>> import os
>>> type(os) is ModuleType
True

Answer 2

from types import ModuleType

isinstance(obj, ModuleType)

Answer 3

>>> import inspect, os
>>> inspect.ismodule(os)
True

Answer 4

This seems a bit hacky, but:

>>> import sys
>>> import os
>>> type(os) is type(sys)
True

Answer 5

Two ways,you could not import any modules:

• type(os) is type(__builtins__)
• str(type(os)).find('module')>-1

Answer 6

Flatten the module to a string and check if it starts with '<module '

import matplotlib
foobarbaz = "some string"
print(str(matplotlib).startswith("<module "))     #prints True
print(str(foobarbaz).startswith("<module "))      #prints False

Drawback being this could collide with a python string that starts with the text '<module' You could try to classify it more strongly with a regex.