docs: def str2dict(str_in):
      '''
      Extracts a dict from a string.
  
      Args:
          str_in (string) that contains python dict
      Returns:
          (dict) or None if no valid dict was found
      Raises:
          -
      '''
      dict_out = safe_eval(str_in)
      if not isinstance(dict_out, dict):
          dict_out = None
      return dict_out