def asarray(obj, itemsize=None, unicode=None, order=None):
return array(obj, itemsize, copy=False,<EOL>unicode=unicode, order=order)<EOL>
Convert the input to a `chararray`, copying the data only if
necessary.

Versus a regular Numpy array of type `str` or `unicode`, this
class adds the following functionality:

  1) values automatically have whitespace removed from the end
     when indexed

  2) comparison operators automatically remove whitespace from the
     end when comparing values

  3) vectorized string operations are provided as methods
     (e.g. `str.endswith`) and infix operators (e.g. +, *, %)

Parameters
----------
obj : array of str or unicode-like

itemsize : int, optional
    `itemsize` is the number of characters per scalar in the
    resulting array.  If `itemsize` is None, and `obj` is an
    object array or a Python list, the `itemsize` will be
    automatically determined.  If `itemsize` is provided and `obj`
    is of type str or unicode, then the `obj` string will be
    chunked into `itemsize` pieces.

unicode : bool, optional
    When true, the resulting `chararray` can contain Unicode
    characters, when false only 8-bit characters.  If unicode is
    `None` and `obj` is one of the following:

      - a `chararray`,
      - an ndarray of type `str` or 'unicode`
      - a Python str or unicode object,

    then the unicode setting of the output array will be
    automatically determined.

order : {'C', 'F'}, optional
    Specify the order of the array.  If order is 'C' (default), then the
    array will be in C-contiguous order (last-index varies the
    fastest).  If order is 'F', then the returned array
    will be in Fortran-contiguous order (first-index varies the
    fastest).