The `startswith` method accepts both string and tuple (not list). Yet 
the error message suggests that it expects (only) a character buffer 
object.

In Python-2.6:

>>> "foo".startswith(['fo', 'df'])
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
TypeError: expected a character buffer object

In Python-3.x, the error message is different:

>>> "foo".startswith(["fo"])
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
TypeError: Can't convert 'list' object to str implicitly

Aside: why not try to convert 'list' object to tuple?