def _get_num_chars(a):
if issubclass(a.dtype.type, unicode_):<EOL><INDENT>return a.itemsize // <NUM_LIT:4><EOL><DEDENT>return a.itemsize<EOL>
Helper function that returns the number of characters per field in
a string or unicode array.  This is to abstract out the fact that
for a unicode array this is itemsize / 4.