dtype(obj, align=False, copy=False)

Create a data type object.

A numpy array is homogeneous, and contains elements described by a dtype object. A dtype object can be constructed from different combinations of fundamental numeric types.

Parameters ---------- obj Object to be converted to a data type object. align : bool, optional Add padding to the fields to match what a C compiler would output for a similar C-struct. Can be ``True`` only if `obj` is a dictionary or a comma-separated string. If a struct dtype is being created, this also sets a sticky alignment flag ``isalignedstruct``. copy : bool, optional Make a new copy of the data-type object. If ``False``, the result may just be a reference to a built-in data-type object.

See also -------- result_type

Examples -------- Using array-scalar type:

>>> np.dtype(np.int16) dtype('int16')

Structured type, one field name 'f1', containing int16:

>>> np.dtype(('f1', np.int16)) dtype(('f1', '<i2'))

Structured type, one field named 'f1', in itself containing a structured type with one field:

>>> np.dtype(('f1', [('f1', np.int16)])) dtype(('f1', [('f1', '<i2')]))

Structured type, two fields: the first field contains an unsigned int, the second an int32:

>>> np.dtype(('f1', np.uint64), ('f2', np.int32)) dtype(('f1', '<u8'), ('f2', '<i4'))

Using array-protocol type strings:

>>> np.dtype(('a','f8'),('b','S10')) dtype(('a', '<f8'), ('b', 'S10'))

Using comma-separated field formats. The shape is (2,3):

>>> np.dtype('i4, (2,3)f8') dtype(('f0', '<i4'), ('f1', '<f8', (2, 3)))

Using tuples. ``int`` is a fixed type, 3 the field's shape. ``void`` is a flexible type, here of size 10:

>>> np.dtype(('hello',(np.int64,3)),('world',np.void,10)) dtype(('hello', '<i8', (3,)), ('world', 'V10'))

Subdivide ``int16`` into 2 ``int8``'s, called x and y. 0 and 1 are the offsets in bytes:

>>> np.dtype((np.int16, 'x':(np.int8,0), 'y':(np.int8,1))) dtype((numpy.int16, ('x', 'i1'), ('y', 'i1')))

Using dictionaries. Two fields named 'gender' and 'age':

>>> np.dtype('names':['gender','age'], 'formats':['S1',np.uint8]) dtype(('gender', 'S1'), ('age', 'u1'))

Offsets in bytes, here 0 and 25:

>>> np.dtype('surname':('S25',0),'age':(np.uint8,25)) dtype(('surname', 'S25'), ('age', 'u1'))

Return selfkey.

Print the object to a human-readable representation.

Print the object to a human-readable representation.

Pretty-print the object to a formatter.