import re
L = [u'小明', 'xiaohong', '12', 'adf12', '14']
for i in range(len(L)):
 if re.findall(r'^[^\d]\w+',L[i]):
  print re.findall(r'^\w+$',L[i])[0]
 elif isinstance(L[i],unicode):
  print L[I]

L = [ 'xiaohong', '12', 'adf12', '14',u'晓明']
for x in L:
 try:
  int(x)
 except:
  print x

L = [ 'xiaohong', '12', 'adf12', '14',u'晓明']
#对于python3来说同样还可以使用string.isnumeric()方法
for x in L:
 if not x.isdigit():
  print x

In [24]: import string
In [25]: astring = '12313213215just for 32 test 1306436'
In [26]: astring.strip(string.digits)
Out[26]: 'just for 32 test '
In [27]: astring.rstrip(string.digits)
Out[27]: '12313213215just for 32 test '
In [30]: astring.lstrip(string.digits)
Out[30]: 'just for 32 test 1306436'
#注意
In [31]: astring
Out[31]: '12313213215just for 32 test 1306436'
In [32]: astring.strip('0123456')
Out[32]: 'just for 32 test '

crazystring = 'dade142.!0142f[., ]ad'
# 只保留数字
new_crazy = filter(str.isdigit, crazystring)
print(''.join(list(new_crazy))) #输出：1420142
# 只保留字母
new_crazy = filter(str.isalpha, crazystring)
print(''.join(list(new_crazy))) #睡出：dadefad
# 只保留字母和数字
new_crazy = filter(str.isalnum, crazystring)
print(''.join(list(new_crazy))) #输出：dade1420142fad
# 如果想保留数字0-9和小数点'.' 则需要自定义函数
new_crazy = filter(lambda ch: ch in '0123456789.', crazystring)
print(''.join(list(new_crazy))) #输出：142.0142.