use encoding='ascii' in stringtochar to recover behaviour prior to PR #1443

Author: jswhit2

examples/tutorial.py

@@ -163,6 +163,7 @@ def walktree(top):
 datac2.imag = datain['imag']
 print(datac.dtype,datac)
 print(datac2.dtype,datac2)
+nc.close()
 
 # more complex compound type example.
 nc = Dataset('compound_example.nc','w') # create a new dataset.
@@ -297,7 +298,7 @@ def walktree(top):
 nc.createDimension('nstrings',None)
 var = nc.createVariable('strings','S1',('nstrings','nchars'))
 datain = np.array(['foo','bar'],dtype='S3')
-var[:] = stringtochar(datain) # manual conversion to char array
+var[:] = stringtochar(datain,encoding='ascii') # manual conversion to char array
 print(var[:]) # data returned as char array
 var._Encoding = 'ascii' # this enables automatic conversion
 var[:] = datain # conversion to char array done internally

src/netCDF4/_netCDF4.pyx

@@ -1084,7 +1084,7 @@ characters with one more dimension. For example,
 >>> _ = nc.createDimension('nstrings',None)
 >>> v = nc.createVariable('strings','S1',('nstrings','nchars'))
 >>> datain = np.array(['foo','bar'],dtype='S3')
->>> v[:] = stringtochar(datain) # manual conversion to char array
+>>> v[:] = stringtochar(datain, encoding='ascii') # manual conversion to char array
 >>> print(v[:]) # data returned as char array
 [[b'f' b'o' b'o']
  [b'b' b'a' b'r']]