convert python object recursively to dict

todict.py

def todict(obj, classkey=None):
    if isinstance(obj, dict):
        data = {}
        for (k, v) in obj.items():
            data[k] = todict(v, classkey)
        return data
    elif hasattr(obj, "_ast"):
        return todict(obj._ast())
    elif hasattr(obj, "__iter__"):
        return [todict(v, classkey) for v in obj]
    elif hasattr(obj, "__dict__"):
        data = dict([(key, todict(value, classkey))
                     for key, value in obj.__dict__.iteritems()
                     if not callable(value) and not key.startswith('_') and key not in ['name']])
        if classkey is not None and hasattr(obj, "__class__"):
            data[classkey] = obj.__class__.__name__
        return data
    else:
        return obj

@ahancock1 Your structural pattern matching rocks:D What about vars() and a dict comprehension?

case object(__dict__=_):

       data = {}
       for k, v in item.__dict__.items():
           if not k.startswith("_"):
               data[k] = to_dict(v)
       return data

return {key: to_dict(value) for key, value in vars(item).items()}