1 files changed, 15 insertions, 2 deletions
diff --git a/numpy/compat/py3k.py b/numpy/compat/py3k.py
index b6113b661..534ae4d29 100644
--- a/numpy/compat/py3k.py
+++ b/numpy/compat/py3k.py
@@ -4,23 +4,25 @@ Python 3 compatibility tools.
 """
 
 __all__ = ['bytes', 'asbytes', 'isfileobj', 'getexception', 'strchar',
-           'asunicode']
+           'unicode', 'asunicode', 'asbytes_nested', 'asunicode_nested']
 
 import sys
 
 if sys.version_info[0] >= 3:
     import io
     bytes = bytes
+    unicode = str
+    asunicode = str
     def asbytes(s):
         if isinstance(s, bytes):
             return s
         return s.encode('iso-8859-1')
-    asunicode = str
     def isfileobj(f):
         return isinstance(f, io.IOBase)
     strchar = 'U'
 else:
     bytes = str
+    unicode = unicode
     asbytes = str
     strchar = 'S'
     def isfileobj(f):
@@ -33,3 +35,14 @@ else:
 def getexception():
     return sys.exc_info()[1]
 
+def asbytes_nested(x):
+    if hasattr(x, '__iter__') and not isinstance(x, (bytes, unicode)):
+        return [asbytes_nested(y) for y in x]
+    else:
+        return asbytes(x)
+
+def asunicode_nested(x):
+    if hasattr(x, '__iter__') and not isinstance(x, (bytes, unicode)):
+        return [asunicode_nested(y) for y in x]
+    else:
+        return asunicode(x)