code: def encode_array_if_needed(arr, dtype=np.float64):
      try:
          return arr.astype(dtype)
      except ValueError:
          unique_values = np.unique(arr)
          encoding_dict = {
              string: index
              for index, string in enumerate(unique_values)
          }
          encoded_array = np.array(
              [encoding_dict[string] for string in arr], dtype=dtype
          )
          return encoded_array
  
imports: import copy
  import os
  import re
  import sys
  from contextlib import contextmanager
  import numpy
  import pandas
  import scipy.special
  import sklearn
label_desc: Use image node_id 7 for calling a global function with example usage: encode_array_if_needed(arr, dtype) and returns: arr, encoded_array