There are some times when you want to test for the post type of an item in your loop. You may use this in your functions.php file for taking dynamic actions for custom post types, or you may need to use it directly in your template.

Either way, here is how you would save the post type as a variable:

get_post_type( $post->ID );

You can also use the function conditionally like this:

if( get_post_type( $post->ID ) == 'custom_post_type_name'):
     // Do custom code here
endif;

This function can be particularly helpful if you’re needing to work a lot with custom post types.