code: def get_by_path(self, paths: Union[str, Iterable[str]], load_metadata: bool=True) \
              -> Union[EntityType, Sequence[EntityType]]:
          
docs: Gets the entity or entities with the given path or paths from iRODS.
  
          If one or more of the entities does not exist, a `FileNotFound` exception will be raised.
          :param paths: the paths of the entities to get from iRODS
          :param load_metadata: whether metadata associated to the entities should be loaded
          :return: the single entity retrieved from iRODS if a single path is given, else a sequence of retrieved entities