Is it safe to use the python word “type” in my code?

Question

Can I use the word "type" in my own code or is it reserved? My function header:

def get(
    self,
    region='Delhi',
    city='Delhi',
    category='Apartments',
    type='For sale',
limit = 60,
    PAGESIZE=5,
    year=2012,
    month=1,
    day=1,
    next_page=None,
threetapspage=0,
    ):

Thank you

Answer 1

Using type as a keyword argument to a function will mask the built-in function "type" within the scope of the function. So while doing so does not raise a SyntaxError, it is not considered good practice, and I would avoid doing so.

Answer 2

Neither. It's not a reserved word (a list of which can be found at http://docs.python.org/reference/lexical_analysis.html#keywords ), but it's generally a bad idea to shadow any builtin.

Answer 3

type should absolutely be consider a reserved word. While it can be tempting to use this word for database fields, consider that the fact that type() is one of the most important debugging/ testing functions because it tells you the class of an object.

$ python

>>> x = 5
>>> s = "rockets"
>>> y = [1,2,3] 

>>> print(type(x)) 
class 'int'

>>> print(type(s))
class 'str'

>>> print(type(y)) 
class 'list'

An atlas would be classified a type of book, but consider using the word "category" instead.