Can't use unichr in Python 3.1

Question

I've been looking through the Python Cookbook (2nd Edition) to learn how to process strings and characters.

I wanted to try converting a number into its Unicode equivalent. So I tried using the built-in function called 'unichr', which, according to the Cookbook, goes something like:

>>> print repr(unichr(8224))

... and will output:

u'\u2020'

However, the code failed. I thought it had something to do with print (because Python 3 uses print() instead of print ""), but that didn't work out as well. I tried several variations to the code, and it still failed. At long last, I just typed a simple line:

unichr(10000)

To my surprise, this error message kept popping up, no matter what value I put into the above function:

 NameError: name 'unichr' is not defined

What could be the problem? Is there some specific module that I'm supposed to import?

Just a tip: you could and should have mentioned the error message right after "the code failed." Always note the error message Python gives (and the *exact* error message, not from memory), and mention it early. — Jürgen A. Erhard, Feb 28 '10 at 18:28

score 111 · Accepted Answer · edited May 21 '20 at 14:56

111

In Python 3, you just use chr:

>>> chr(10000)
'✐'

edited May 21 '20 at 14:56

phoenix

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answered Feb 28 '10 at 18:19

Mark Byers

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score 23 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 28 '10 at 18:21

23

In Python 3, there's no difference between unicode and normal strings anymore. Only between unicode strings and binary data. So the developers finally removed the unichr function in favor of a common chr which now does what the old unichr did. See the documentation here.

answered Feb 28 '10 at 18:21

AndiDog

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There are still two string-ish types. What 2.x calls `unicode`, 3.x calls `str` (with trivial changes). What 2.x calls `str`, 3.x calls `bytes` (with moderate changes). – Mike Graham Feb 28 '10 at 18:47

score 7 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 24 '19 at 20:19

7

In case you need to run in both python 2 and python 3, you can use this common syntax (the unused syntax would point to the new one)

try:
    unichr
except NameError:
    unichr = chr

answered Jan 24 '19 at 20:19

mork

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score 6 · Answer 4 · answered Feb 28 '10 at 18:19

6

Python 3.x doesn't have a special Unicode string type/class. Every string is a Unicode string. So... I'd try chr. Should give you what unichr did pre-3.x. Can't test, sadly.

answered Feb 28 '10 at 18:19

Jürgen A. Erhard

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score 6 · Answer 5 · answered May 24 '20 at 08:53

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As suggestted by this is a better way to do it for it is compatible for both 2 and 3:

# Python 2 and 3:
from builtins import chr
assert chr(8364) == '€'

And you may need pip install future incase some error occures.

answered May 24 '20 at 08:53

shellbye

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Can't use unichr in Python 3.1

5 Answers5

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