How can you check if a variable is of a specific type?

The isinstance() function is a built-in Python function that allows you to check if a particular variable is of a specified type or class. This function is beneficial because it not only verifies a variable's type but also checks if the variable is an instance of a subclass. This feature makes isinstance() more versatile compared to other type-checking methods.

For example, if you have a variable x and you want to check if it is an integer, you can use isinstance(x, int). This will return True if x is of type int or if x is an instance of a subclass of int, ensuring comprehensive type checking.

While the type() function can be used to determine the type of a variable, it does not provide the same flexibility, as it returns the exact type alone and doesn’t account for inheritance. Using checktype() and gettype() is incorrect because these are not standard Python functions, and thus would not work in typical scenarios for type-checking.