1 files changed, 29 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/util.py b/util.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..693a7e2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/util.py
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+# Helper functions and mixin classes for Beautiful Soup
+
+import types
+try:
+    set
+except NameError:
+    from sets import Set as set
+
+def isList(l):
+    """Convenience method that works with all 2.x versions of Python
+    to determine whether or not something is listlike."""
+    return ((hasattr(l, '__iter__') and not isString(l))
+            or (type(l) in (types.ListType, types.TupleType)))
+
+def isString(s):
+    """Convenience method that works with all 2.x versions of Python
+    to determine whether or not something is stringlike."""
+    try:
+        return isinstance(s, unicode) or isinstance(s, basestring)
+    except NameError:
+        return isinstance(s, str)
+
+def buildSet(args=None):
+    """Turns a list or a string into a set."""
+    if isinstance(args, str):
+        return set([args])
+    if args is None:
+        return set()
+    return set(args)