In Python, how do I determine if an object is iterable?

In Python, an object is considered iterable if it has an __iter__() method defined or if it has a __getitem__() method with defined indices (i.e., it can be indexed, like a list or a string).

The built-in iter() function can be used to check if an object is iterable. If the object is iterable, iter() returns an iterator object; otherwise, it raises a TypeError. For example:

Determine if an object is iterable with a try-except block in Python

def is_iterable(obj):
    try:
        iter(obj)
        return True
    except TypeError:
        return False

print(is_iterable(2))

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You can also use collections.abc.Iterable ABC and check using the isinstance function.

A function that determines if an object is iterable using the iterable module in Python

from collections.abc import Iterable
def is_iterable(obj):
    return isinstance(obj, Iterable)

You can then use this function to check if any object is iterable or not.

Determines if an object is iterable using the iterable module in Python with examples

from collections.abc import Iterable
def is_iterable(obj):
    return isinstance(obj, Iterable)

is_iterable([1, 2, 3])

is_iterable('abc')

is_iterable(5)

Note that isinstance(obj, Iterable) relies on Python's protocol-based duck-typing, meaning it checks for the presence of the __iter__() method rather than strict inheritance. This avoids false negatives for custom classes that implement the iterable protocol without inheriting from collections.abc.Iterable. For sequence-like objects that rely on __getitem__() instead, you can also verify iterability with hasattr(obj, '__getitem__').