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# numpy.ma.MaskedArray.toflex

`MaskedArray.``toflex`()

  Transforms a masked array into a flexible-type array.

  The flexible type array that is returned will have two fields:

  - the `_data` field stores the `_data` part of the array.
  - the `_mask` field stores the `_mask` part of the array.

  Parameters : | None
  Returns : | record : ndarray A new flexible-type ndarray with two fields: the first element containing a value, the second element containing the corresponding mask boolean. The returned record shape matches self.shape.

  Notes

  A side-effect of transforming a masked array into a flexible ndarray is that meta information (`fill_value`, ...) will be lost.

  Examples

      >>> x = np.ma.array([[1,2,3],[4,5,6],[7,8,9]], mask=[0] + [1,0]*4)
      >>> print x
      [[1 -- 3]
       [-- 5 --]
       [7 -- 9]]
      >>> print x.toflex()
      [[(1, False) (2, True) (3, False)]
       [(4, True) (5, False) (6, True)]
       [(7, False) (8, True) (9, False)]]