code: def lstring_as_obj(true_or_false=None):
      
      if true_or_false is not None:
          _default_types_status['lstring_as_obj'] = true_or_false
          # update the typeDict
          numpy.typeDict[u'lstring'] = numpy.object_ \
              if _default_types_status['lstring_as_obj'] \
              else 'S%i' % _default_types_status['default_strlen']
      return _default_types_status['lstring_as_obj']
docs: Toggles whether lstrings should be treated as strings or as objects.
      When FieldArrays is first loaded, the default is True.
  
      Parameters
      ----------
      true_or_false : {None|bool}
          Pass True to map lstrings to objects; False otherwise. If None
          provided, just returns the current state.
  
      Return
      ------
      current_stat : bool
          The current state of lstring_as_obj.
  
      Examples
      --------
      >>> from pycbc.io import FieldArray
      >>> FieldArray.lstring_as_obj()
          True
      >>> FieldArray.FieldArray.from_arrays([numpy.zeros(10)], dtype=[('foo', 'lstring')])
      FieldArray([(0.0,), (0.0,), (0.0,), (0.0,), (0.0,), (0.0,), (0.0,), (0.0,),
             (0.0,), (0.0,)],
            dtype=[('foo', 'O')])
      >>> FieldArray.lstring_as_obj(False)
          False
      >>> FieldArray.FieldArray.from_arrays([numpy.zeros(10)], dtype=[('foo', 'lstring')])
      FieldArray([('0.0',), ('0.0',), ('0.0',), ('0.0',), ('0.0',), ('0.0',),
             ('0.0',), ('0.0',), ('0.0',), ('0.0',)],
            dtype=[('foo', 'S50')])