def to_bytes(text, encoding=None, errors='strict'):
    """Return the binary representation of `text`. If `text`
    is already a bytes object, return it as-is."""
    if isinstance(text, bytes):
        return text
    if not isinstance(text, six.string_types):
        raise TypeError('to_bytes must receive a unicode, str or bytes '
                        'object, got %s' % type(text).__name__)
    if encoding is None:
        encoding = 'utf-8'
    return text.encode(encoding, errors)
Return the binary representation of `text`. If `text`
    is already a bytes object, return it as-is.
ethereumetl/exporters.py