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 '