Converts a string argument to a byte string.

    If the argument is already a byte string or None, it is returned unchanged.
    Otherwise it must be a unicode string and is encoded as utf8.

def _utf8(value):
    """Converts a string argument to a byte string.

    If the argument is already a byte string or None, it is returned unchanged.
    Otherwise it must be a unicode string and is encoded as utf8.
    """
    if isinstance(value, _UTF8_TYPES):
        return value
    if not isinstance(value, unicode_type):
        raise TypeError(
            "Expected bytes, unicode, or None; got %r" % type(value)
        )
    return value.encode("utf-8")