def _monkeypatch_unicode_mask_fill_values():
 if (NUMPY_LT_1_8 and six.PY2):
  import numpy as np
  from numpy.ma import core as ma_core
  _check_fill_value_original = ma_core._check_fill_value
  def _check_fill_value(fill_value, ndtype):
   if ((not ndtype.fields) and isinstance(fill_value, six.string_types) and (ndtype.char in u'SVU')):
    return np.array(fill_value, copy=False, dtype=ndtype)
   return _check_fill_value_original(fill_value, ndtype)
  ma_core._check_fill_value = _check_fill_value

def _monkeypatch_unicode_mask_fill_values ( ) : if ( NUMPY_LT_1_8 and six . PY2 ) : import numpy as np from numpy . ma import core as ma_core _check_fill_value_original = ma_core . _check_fill_value def _check_fill_value ( fill_value , ndtype ) : if ( ( not ndtype . fields ) and isinstance ( fill_value , six . string_types ) and ( ndtype . char in u'SVU' ) ) : return np . array ( fill_value , copy = False , dtype = ndtype ) return _check_fill_value_original ( fill_value , ndtype ) ma_core . _check_fill_value = _check_fill_value
numpy < 1 .