convert a string that is utf-8 code to real unicode string

Question

now I have the string of unicode code like "\u8fea\u514b" ,how do I convert it to the real unicode object like u"\u8fea\u514b" in python.

Answer 1

>>> s = "\u8fea\u514b"
>>> type(s)
<type 'str'>
>>> s.decode('unicode-escape')
u'\u8fea\u514b'
# OR
>>> new_s = unicode(s, 'unicode-escape')
>>> type(new_s)
<type 'unicode'>
>>> new_s
u'\u8fea\u514b'

You can type cast from string to Unicode unsing Unicode class.

class unicode(basestring)
 |  unicode(string [, encoding[, errors]]) -> object
 |
 |  Create a new Unicode object from the given encoded string.
 |  encoding defaults to the current default string encoding.

Answer 2

Just use string.decode('unicode-escape')

>>> "\u8fea\u514b".decode('unicode-escape')
u'\u8fea\u514b'