code: def get_unicode(input_text, encoding='utf-8'):
      
      if isinstance(input_text, str):
          return input_text
      return str(input_text, encoding, errors='ignore')
docs: Get the unicode (str) representation of an object.
  
      :param input_text: The input text.
      :type input_text: unicode, str, float, int
  
      :param encoding: The encoding used to do the conversion, default to utf-8.
      :type encoding: str
  
      :returns: Unicode representation of the input.
      :rtype: str