unicode_test.py

import urllib

def encoded_dict(in_dict):
  out_dict = {}
  for k, v in in_dict.iteritems():
      if isinstance(v, unicode):
          v = v.encode('utf8')
      elif isinstance(v, str):
          # Must be encoded in UTF-8
          v.decode('utf8')
      out_dict[k] = v
  return out_dict
  
tests = [1, '1', u'1', u'\u306a', u'Mo\xebt Chandon', u'M\xe9nage \xe0 trois', 
u'M\xb4', u't\xfc', u'SCHRAMSBERG\xa0', u'\x80', u'\u20ac', u'\u0445', u'\u0445\u044c\u0437\u044c', u'\u306a']
for test in tests:
  print repr(test), repr(urllib.urlencode(encoded_dict({'a':test})))