item_03_example_03.py

#!/usr/bin/env python2.7

# Copyright 2014 Brett Slatkin, Pearson Education Inc.
#
# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
# You may obtain a copy of the License at
#
#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
#
# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
# limitations under the License.

# Preamble to mimick book environment
import logging
from pprint import pprint
from sys import stdout as STDOUT


# Example 3
def to_unicode(unicode_or_str):
    if isinstance(unicode_or_str, str):
        value = unicode_or_str.decode('utf-8')
    else:
        value = unicode_or_str
    return value  # Instance of unicode

print(repr(to_unicode(u'foo')))
print(repr(to_unicode('foo')))