<SYSTEM_TASK:>
Solve the following problem using Python, implementing the functions described below, one line at a time
<END_TASK>
<USER_TASK:>
Description:
 def decode_bytes(string):
 """ Decodes a given base64 string into bytes. :param str string: The string to decode :return: The decoded bytes :rtype: bytes """


    if is_string_type(type(string)):
        string = bytes(string, "utf-8")
    return base64.decodebytes(string)