def modifies_known_mutable(obj, attr):
    """This function checks if an attribute on a builtin mutable object
    (list, dict, set or deque) would modify it if called.  It also supports
    the "user"-versions of the objects (`sets.Set`, `UserDict.*` etc.) and
    with Python 2.6 onwards the abstract base classes `MutableSet`,
    `MutableMapping`, and `MutableSequence`.

    >>> modifies_known_mutable({}, "clear")
    True
    >>> modifies_known_mutable({}, "keys")
    False
    >>> modifies_known_mutable([], "append")
    True
    >>> modifies_known_mutable([], "index")
    False

    If called with an unsupported object (such as unicode) `False` is
    returned.

    >>> modifies_known_mutable("foo", "upper")
    False
    """
    for typespec, unsafe in _mutable_spec:
        if isinstance(obj, typespec):
            return attr in unsafe
    return False