1 files changed, 17 insertions, 2 deletions
diff --git a/synapse/util/stringutils.py b/synapse/util/stringutils.py
index a100f151d4..b98b9dc6e4 100644
--- a/synapse/util/stringutils.py
+++ b/synapse/util/stringutils.py
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 
 import random
 import string
+from six.moves import range
 
 _string_with_symbols = (
     string.digits + string.ascii_letters + ".,;:^&*-_+=#~@"
@@ -22,12 +23,12 @@ _string_with_symbols = (
 
 
 def random_string(length):
-    return ''.join(random.choice(string.ascii_letters) for _ in xrange(length))
+    return ''.join(random.choice(string.ascii_letters) for _ in range(length))
 
 
 def random_string_with_symbols(length):
     return ''.join(
-        random.choice(_string_with_symbols) for _ in xrange(length)
+        random.choice(_string_with_symbols) for _ in range(length)
     )
 
 
@@ -40,3 +41,17 @@ def is_ascii(s):
         return False
     else:
         return True
+
+
+def to_ascii(s):
+    """Converts a string to ascii if it is ascii, otherwise leave it alone.
+
+    If given None then will return None.
+    """
+    if s is None:
+        return None
+
+    try:
+        return s.encode("ascii")
+    except UnicodeEncodeError:
+        return s