Is there a function in Python to list the attributes and methods of a particular object?

You want to look at the dir() function:

>>> li = []
>>> dir(li)      
['append', 'count', 'extend', 'index', 'insert',
'pop', 'remove', 'reverse', 'sort']

li is a list, so dir(li) returns a list of all the methods of a list. Note that the returned list contains the names of the methods as strings, not the methods themselves.

Edit in response to comment:

No this will show all inherited methods as well. Consider this example:

test.py:

class Foo:
    def foo(): pass

class Bar(Foo):
    def bar(): pass

Python interpreter:

>>> from test import Foo, Bar
>>> dir(Foo)
['__doc__', '__module__', 'foo']
>>> dir(Bar)
['__doc__', '__module__', 'bar', 'foo']

You should note that Python’s documentation states:

Note: Because dir() is supplied
primarily as a convenience for use at
an interactive prompt, it tries to
supply an interesting set of names
more than it tries to supply a
rigorously or consistently defined set
of names, and its detailed behavior
may change across releases. For
example, metaclass attributes are not
in the result list when the argument
is a class.

Therefore it’s not safe to use in your code. Use vars() instead. Vars() doesn’t include information about the superclasses, you’d have to collect them yourself.

If you’re using dir() to find information in an interactive interpreter, consider the use of help().