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# Custom __str__ methods

If you define a custom `__str__` method for any of your classes, functions like `print()` expect `__str__` on Py2 to return a byte string, whereas on Py3 they expect a (unicode) string.

Use the following decorator to map the `__str__` to `__unicode__` on Py2 and define `__str__` to encode it as utf-8:

    from future.utils import python_2_unicode_compatible

    @python_2_unicode_compatible
    class MyClass(object):
        def __str__(self):
            return u'Unicode string: \u5b54\u5b50'
    a = MyClass()

    # This then prints the name of a Chinese philosopher:
    print(a)

This decorator is identical to the decorator of the same name in `django.utils.encoding`.

This decorator is a no-op on Python 3.

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