Python function: check if an object is an float

def isfloat(value):
  try:
    float(value)
    return True
  except ValueError:
    return False

Python function: format dollars

 def format_dollar(s):
      """takes in a str or a number and format it as dollar format
      i.e. u'24567.0' --> u'$24,567'
     """

     s = str(s) # in case input is not string
     
     try:
         i = int(s.split('.')[0])
         output = "$" + "{:,}".format(i)
     except:
         output = s

     return output