fixes to  adjust_input

- handle non unicode input in match_value_dataset
- fix str.format() patterns to work in python <=2.6
  * I overlooked that py <= 2.6 the str.format() require its fields to be named/numbered, while in py2.7+ this is not required anymore, e.g.   ``` 'a:{}'.format('b')``` is valid in py2.7+, but in py2.6 it has to be replaced by  ``` 'a:{0}'.format('b')```