diff --git a/type.rb b/type.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..389a056
--- /dev/null
+++ b/type.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+#
+# type.rb
+#
+
+module Puppet::Parser::Functions
+  newfunction(:type, :type => :rvalue, :doc => <<-EOS
+    EOS
+  ) do |arguments|
+
+    raise(Puppet::ParseError, "type(): Wrong number of arguments " +
+      "given (#{arguments.size} for 1)") if arguments.size < 1
+
+    value = arguments[0]
+
+    klass = value.class
+
+    if not [Array, Bignum, Fixnum, Float, Hash, String].include?(klass)
+      raise(Puppet::ParseError, 'type(): Unknown type')
+    end
+
+    klass = klass.to_s # Ugly ...
+
+    # We note that Integer is the parent to Bignum and Fixnum ...
+    result = case klass
+      when /^(?:Big|Fix)num$/ then 'Integer'
+      else klass
+    end
+
+    return result
+  end
+end
+
+# vim: set ts=2 sw=2 et :