30-seconds-of-code/snippets/cast_list.md

title, tags

title	tags
cast_list	utility,list,beginner

Casts the provided value as an array if it's not one.

Use isinstance() to check if the given value is a list and return it as-is or encapsulated in a list accordingly.

def cast_list(val):
  if isinstance(val, (tuple, list, set, dict)): return list(val)
  elif val: return [val]
  else: return []

cast_list('foo'); # ['foo']
cast_list([1]); # [1]
cast_list(('foo', 'bar')); # ['foo', 'bar']