Can you explain what the isinstance function does in Python?

The isinstance function in Python is used to check whether an object is an instance of a specified class or a tuple of classes. It returns True if the object belongs to this class or its subclass, and False otherwise.

Example usage:

x = 10
if isinstance(x, int):
    print("x is an integer")

# Check for multiple types
if isinstance(x, (int, float)):
    print("x is a number")

This is useful for safely checking the type before performing operations that require a specific data type.