code: def get_string(input_text, encoding='utf-8'):
      
      if isinstance(input_text, str):
          return input_text.encode(encoding)
      return input_text
docs: Get byte string 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: Byte string representation of the input.
      :rtype: bytes