def val_checker(val):
    """Type check of variable to pass to style functions.
	
	Parameters
	----------
	val : str
		String containing the value to evaluate
	Returns
	-------
	val : Recasted value
	"""
    from distutils.util import strtobool
    if "'" not in val and '"' not in val:
        try:
            val = float(val) if '.' in val else int(val)
        except ValueError:
            try:
                val = bool(strtobool(val))
            except ValueError:
                val = val
    return val
