************** Core Functions ************** The main Pewtils module contains a variety of generally useful functions that make our researchers \ lives easier. For those still working in Python 2.x, the :py:func:`pewtils.decode_text` function can help alleviate \ headaches related to text encodings. The :py:func:`pewtils.is_null` and :py:func:`pewtils.is_not_null` functions \ provide an easy way to deal with the wide variety of possible null values that exist in the Python (and broader \ research universe) by using a best-guess approach. When working with dictionaries or JSON records that need \ to be updated, :py:func:`pewtils.recursive_update` makes it easy to map one version of an object onto another. While \ we strive to write efficient code that can cover every possible use-case, there are certainly some \ edge cases that we haven't encountered, and other existing Python libraries may very well provide \ many of these same features. This collection simply consists of functions we find ourselves using \ again and again, and we hope that Pewtils may help expand your daily toolkit in some way as well. .. automodule :: pewtils.__init__ :autosummary: :members: