Ruby Output Unicode Character

Question

I'm not a Ruby dev by trade, but am using Capistrano for PHP deployments. I'm trying to cleanup the output of my script and am trying to add a unicode check mark as discussed in this blog.

The problem is if I do:

checkmark = "\u2713"
puts checkmark

It outputs "\u2713" instead of ✓

I've googled around and I just can't find anywhere that discusses this.

TLDR: How do I puts or print the unicode checkmark U-2713?

EDIT

I am running Ruby 1.8.7 on my Mac (OSX Lion) so cannot use the encode method. My shell is Bash in iTerm2.

UPDATE [4/8/2019] Added reference image in case site ever goes down.

score 58 · Accepted Answer · edited Feb 26 '14 at 00:12

58

In Ruby 1.9.x+

Use String#encode:

checkmark = "\u2713"
puts checkmark.encode('utf-8')

prints

✓

In Ruby 1.8.7

puts '\u2713'.gsub(/\\u[\da-f]{4}/i) { |m| [m[-4..-1].to_i(16)].pack('U') }
✓

edited Feb 26 '14 at 00:12

rogerdpack

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answered Aug 28 '13 at 15:53

falsetru

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I should have mentioned I have Ruby 1.8.7 and apparently the `encode` method isn't available until 1.9. How was it done prior to 1.9? – Jeremy Harris Aug 28 '13 at 15:55
1

@cillosis, I added Ruby 1.8.7 compatible version. You should use `'\u2713'` or `"\\u2713"`, because `"\u2713" == "u2713"` in ruby 1.8. – falsetru Aug 28 '13 at 16:03
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Bam! I first tried your solution and it wasn't working. Then went to single quotes and it worked! Thanks :) – Jeremy Harris Aug 28 '13 at 16:07
I was able to simply do something like `checkmark = "\u2713".encode('utf-8'); puts checkmark` and so the encoding was saved to the variable. This works for me in Ruby 2.2.2. – HarlemSquirrel Jan 29 '16 at 19:06
@sixty4bit, If you want to notify OP, mention OP or comment on the question. Otherwise, OP will not be notified. – falsetru Nov 07 '16 at 01:29
checkmark = "\u2663" puts checkmark.encode('utf-8') prints ♣ for me! – Adjam Jan 18 '19 at 09:10
`"\u127968".encode("utf-8")` is giving me `ቹ68`. I was hoping for ``. Is there a Ruby way to print the upper ranges of Unicode? – Lori Jun 11 '19 at 20:23
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@Lori, `"\u{1f3e0}"` (`'1f3e0' == 127968.to_s(16)`) – falsetru Jun 12 '19 at 01:47

sixty4bit · Answer 2 · 2017-02-26T04:05:33.913

23

In newer versions of Ruby, you don't need to enforce encoding. Here is an example with 2.1.2:

2.1.2 :002 > "\u00BD"
 => "½"

Just make sure you use double quotes!

edited Feb 26 '17 at 04:05

answered Apr 22 '16 at 16:39

sixty4bit

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This comment about making sure to use double-quotes saved me -- I was tearing my hair out trying to figure out why this wasn't working! – Dasmowenator Feb 22 '21 at 23:31

score 18 · Answer 3 · edited May 24 '17 at 23:53

18

falsetru's answer is incorrect.

checkmark = "\u2713"
puts checkmark.encode('utf-8')

This transcodes the checkmark from the current system encoding to UTF-8 encoding. (That works only on a system whose default is already UTF-8.)

The correct answer is:

puts checkmark.force_encoding('utf-8')

This modifies the string's encoding, without modifying any character sequence.

edited May 24 '17 at 23:53

Camille Goudeseune

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answered Dec 10 '14 at 15:23

zw963

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score 4 · Answer 4 · answered Sep 04 '19 at 04:37

4

As an additional note, if you want to print an emoji, you have to surround it with braces.

irb(main):001:0> "\u{1F600}"
=> ""

answered Sep 04 '19 at 04:37

Blubber

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Nice but doesn't seem to work with string interpolation `a=1F600; puts "\u{#{a}}"` – builder-7000 Dec 09 '19 at 06:53
@builder-7000 I found a way to do it: `a = '1F600'; puts a.to_i(16).chr('UTF-8')`. Outputs . – Dmitry Barskov Aug 13 '22 at 11:10

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Jul 07 '16 at 17:56

0

Same goes as above in ERB, no forced encoding required, works perfectly, tested at Ruby 2.3.0

    <%= "\u00BD" %>

Much appreciation

answered Jul 07 '16 at 17:56

bananaforscale

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score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Dec 17 '21 at 19:27

0

How we can print as is in newer version of ruby

checkmark = "\u2713" puts checkmark

This should print AS IS \u2713

answered Dec 17 '21 at 19:27

Shubhra Goyal

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As it’s currently written, your answer is unclear. Please [edit] to add additional details that will help others understand how this addresses the question asked. You can find more information on how to write good answers [in the help center](/help/how-to-answer). – Community Dec 17 '21 at 21:43

Ruby Output Unicode Character

6 Answers6

In Ruby 1.9.x+

In Ruby 1.8.7

Linked