1 import chardet

     2 

     3 def to_unicode(input):

     4     if type(input) == str:

     5         res = None

     6         for encoding in [chardet.detect(input)['encoding'], 'utf8', 'latin1']:

     7             try:

     8                 res = unicode(input, encoding)

     9                 break;

    10             except UnicodeDecodeError:

    11                 pass

    12         if not res:

    13             raise Exception('UnicodeDecodeError: could not decode')

    14         return res

    15     return input