title: How to check if a class member exists without getting exception
body: <p>For primitive types I can use the if  in : boolean check.  But if I use the in syntax to check for the existence of a class member I get a NameError exception.  Is there a way in Python to check without an exception?  Or is the only way to surround in try except block?</p>
  
  <p>Here is my sample code.</p>
  
  <pre><code>class myclass:
      i = 0
      def __init__(self, num):
          self.i = num
  
  mylist = [1,2,3]
  if 7 in mylist:
      print "found it"
  else:
      print "7 not present"  #prints 7 not present
  
  
  x = myclass(3)
  print x.i       #prints 3
  
  #below line NameError: name 'counter' is not defined
  if counter in x:
      print "counter in x"
  else:
      print "No counter in x"
  </code></pre>