gistfile1.py

#!/usr/bin/python3
from numbers import Number

def binary_search( search, match ):

	if len( search ) < 10:
		print(search)
		for i in search:
			print(i)

			if i == match:
				return True
		return False

	mid = int( len( search )//2 )
	print( 'mid:', mid)

	if isinstance( match, Number ):
		print('Match is a number')

		if search[mid:][0] <= match:
			print( 'mid if:', search[mid:][0])
			return binary_search( search[mid:], match )
		else:
			search[:mid][0]
			return binary_search( search[:mid], match )

	elif type( match ) == str:
		print('Match is a string')
		if search[mid:][0][0] <= match[0]:
			return binary_search( search[mid:], match )
		else:
			return binary_search( search[:mid], match )

	else:
		print('This funtion only takes number(int or float) and strings')
		return False

	print('...')


##sample dataset
arr = [1,3,9,11,23,44,66,88,102,142,188,192,239,382,492,1120,1900,2500,4392,5854,6543,8292,9999,29122]

print ( binary_search(arr, 44) )