[Numpy-discussion] Getting number of *characters* in dtype='U' array

[Michael Droettboom]

Is there a way to get the number of characters in a fixed-size 'U' 
array?  I can, of course, parse dtype.str, or divide dtype.itemsize by 
the size of a unicode character, but neither seems terribly elegant or 
future proof.  Does numpy provide (to Python) a method for getting this 
that I'm just missing?

In [7]: x = np.array(u'1234')

In [8]: x.dtype
Out[8]: dtype('<U4')

In [9]: x.dtype.str
Out[9]: '<U4'

In [10]: x.dtype.itemsize
Out[10]: 16

Cheers,
Mike

-- 
Michael Droettboom
Science Software Branch
Operations and Engineering Division
Space Telescope Science Institute
Operated by AURA for NASA