def _combine_meta(meta, flattened_meta, idx):
    ' Combine newly flattened metadata with existing metadata. This Function is designed to keep the indexing\n        of the different metadata fields consistent for each node within the sample node tree s.t. all the\n        fields in index (idx) 0 will be from item 0 in the node tree. Empty string ("") entries are Empty and\n        added simply so that the indexing of all fields line up.\n    meta           - existing metadata.\n    flattened_meta - newly flattened metadata.\n    idx            - current index of ndoe_tree.\n    '
    for key in flattened_meta:
        if (key in meta):
            meta[key] += (['' for _ in range((idx - len(meta[key])))] + [flattened_meta[key]])
        else:
            meta[key] = (['' for _ in range(idx)] + [flattened_meta[key]])
    return meta
Combine newly flattened metadata with existing metadata. This Function is designed to keep the indexing
    of the different metadata fields consistent for each node within the sample node tree s.t. all the
    fields in index (idx) 0 will be from item 0 in the node tree. Empty string ("") entries are Empty and
    added simply so that the indexing of all fields line up.
meta           - existing metadata.
flattened_meta - newly flattened metadata.
idx            - current index of ndoe_tree.
def _combine_meta(meta, flattened_meta, idx):
    ' Combine newly flattened metadata with existing metadata. This Function is designed to keep the indexing\n        of the different metadata fields consistent for each node within the sample node tree s.t. all the\n        fields in index (idx) 0 will be from item 0 in the node tree. Empty string () entries are Empty and\n        added simply so that the indexing of all fields line up.\n    meta           - existing metadata.\n    flattened_meta - newly flattened metadata.\n    idx            - current index of ndoe_tree.\n    '
    for key in flattened_meta:
        if (key in meta):
            meta[key] += ([ for _ in range((idx - len(meta[key])))] + [flattened_meta[key]])
        else:
            meta[key] = ([ for _ in range(idx)] + [flattened_meta[key]])
    return meta