What is the most pythonic way to check if an object is a number?

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Use Number from the numbers module to test isinstance(n, Number) (available since 2.6).

>>> from numbers import Number
... from decimal import Decimal
... from fractions import Fraction
... for n in [2, 2.0, Decimal('2.0'), complex(2, 0), Fraction(2, 1), '2']:
...     print(f'{n!r:>14} {isinstance(n, Number)}')
              2 True
            2.0 True
 Decimal('2.0') True
         (2+0j) True
 Fraction(2, 1) True
            '2' False

This is, of course, contrary to duck typing. If you are more concerned about how an object acts rather than what it is, perform your operations as if you have a number and use exceptions to tell you otherwise.

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