> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.open-metadata.org/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Utils

[<img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/-source-cccccc?style=flat-square" />](https://github.com/open-metadata/OpenMetadata/tree/main/ingestion/src/metadata/ingestion/ometa/utils.py#L0")

# module `utils`

Helper functions to handle OpenMetadata Entities' properties

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[<img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/-source-cccccc?style=flat-square" />](https://github.com/open-metadata/OpenMetadata/tree/main/ingestion/src/metadata/ingestion/ometa/utils.py#L24")

## function `format_name`

```python theme={null}
format_name(name: str) → str
```

Given a name, replace all special characters by `_`

**Args:**

`name`: name to format

**Returns:**

formatted string

***

[<img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/-source-cccccc?style=flat-square" />](https://github.com/open-metadata/OpenMetadata/tree/main/ingestion/src/metadata/ingestion/ometa/utils.py#L35")

## function `get_entity_type`

```python theme={null}
get_entity_type(entity: Union[Type[~T], str]) → str
```

Given an Entity T, return its type. E.g., Table returns table, Dashboard returns dashboard...

Also allow to be the identity if we just receive a string

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[<img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/-source-cccccc?style=flat-square" />](https://github.com/open-metadata/OpenMetadata/tree/main/ingestion/src/metadata/ingestion/ometa/utils.py#L64")

## function `model_str`

```python theme={null}
model_str(arg: Any) → str
```

Default model stringifying method.

Some elements such as FQN, EntityName, UUID have the actual value under the pydantic base **root**

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