python parse string value as boolean

parse_boolean_value.py

def parse_bool_str(val):
    
    if isinstance(val, str):
        val = val.lower().strip()
        if val in ['true', 'yes', 'y', '1']:
            val = True
        elif val in ['false', 'no', 'n', '0']:
            val = False
        else:
            raise ValueError('Provided value cannot be parsed as a string.')
    
    else:
        val = bool(val)
        
    return val