[Biopython] Entrez.read return value is typed as a string??

[Ben O'Loghlin]

Thanks Peter, another small step up the learning curve!

Ben

-----Original Message-----
From: p.j.a.cock at googlemail.com [mailto:p.j.a.cock at googlemail.com] On Behalf
Of Peter
Sent: Friday, 30 October 2009 2:37 AM
To: Ben O'Loghlin
Cc: Michiel de Hoon; biopython at biopython.org
Subject: Re: [Biopython] Entrez.read return value is typed as a string??

On Thu, Oct 29, 2009 at 2:59 PM, Ben O'Loghlin <bassbabyface at yahoo.com>
wrote:
> Thanks Michiel.
>
> What is the function of the 'u' in the string discussed below?
> That's the bit that's got me confused.
>
> Best regards,
> Ben
>
> p.s. assistance on this list is fast and useful. Nice!

Again, its a bit of Python basics rather than anything Biopython
specific. The u is for unicode, thus "fred" gives a normal string
while u"fred" gives a unicode string. Unless you are messing
about with odd foreign characters (e.g. letters with accents) you
won't have to worry about this. Python 3 gets rid of the dichotomy
by using unicode for all strings.

Peter