Weird behaviour initializing a numpy array of string data

Question

I am having some seemingly trivial trouble with numpy when the array contains string data. I have the following code:

my_array = numpy.empty([1, 2], dty         


        

Answer 1

I got a "codec error" when I tried to use a non-ascii character with dtype="S10"

You also get an array with binary strings, which confused me.

I think it is better to use:

my_array = numpy.empty([1, 2], dtype="

Here 'U10' translates to "Unicode string of length 10; little endian format"