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How do I replace french accents like "é" with their latin equivalents like "e" when pulling information from the database or when displaying strings on the page?

Update

Can the moderator that is linking to the question "UTF-8 all the way through" marking this one as duplicate please explain how that topic answers the question of "how do I CONVERT a french accented character to an English equivalent"? That question explains how to properly store french characters in your DB and then display them which is great, but it does not explain how you can take a french accent like "é" or "à" and convert to "e" and "a". You would want this for example to convert image file names since Safari can't display images with French characters, remove them from usernames or for any other number of reasons.

Robert Sinclair
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    ...and I won't ask why you want to remove the accents anyway.. – Jeff Apr 19 '19 at 16:39
  • Sounds like a way of "fixing" a broken charset? If so, it's a really bad idea. – Qirel Apr 19 '19 at 16:44
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    It's used for replacing accent in images which are broken when displayed in Safari, so it's not a "really bad idea". And there are other uses for removing french characters from a string, i'm sure if it's in WP there was a legitimate reason for including it. – Robert Sinclair Apr 19 '19 at 16:45
  • @Jeff i needed it for removal of accents from images, because they don't display in safari.. why someone would need it is up to them. But this solution may help. – Robert Sinclair Apr 19 '19 at 16:55

2 Answers2

-1

This will work PHP versions starting from 5.2 and up. Uses Wordpress built-in functions for removal of accents (converts to english equivalents such as "é" to "e") and does not require special libraries or extensions.

After many hours of troubleshooting french accents this is the only thing that works in all scenarios where it was tested

Made up of 3 functions below and basic usage is:

$str = detect_remove_french($str);

# if the word has a french character return the non french one
function detect_remove_french($str) {
    # Tentative no french character version
    $no_french_char = remove_accents($str);

    # Compare the above to the original str, if they're different it means that indeed the above contained a french
    # character
    if(strcmp($no_french_char,$str) != 0) {
        return $no_french_char; # <- means there WAS a french character detected, so lets return this french char free version
    }
    # means the french and tentative no-french are exactly the same, so there was no french characters to begin with
    # return FALSE
    else {
        return false;
    }
}


function remove_accents($string) {
    if ( !preg_match('/[\x80-\xff]/', $string) )
        return $string;

    if (seems_utf8($string)) {
        $chars = array(
            // Decompositions for Latin-1 Supplement
            chr(194).chr(170) => 'a', chr(194).chr(186) => 'o',
            chr(195).chr(128) => 'A', chr(195).chr(129) => 'A',
            chr(195).chr(130) => 'A', chr(195).chr(131) => 'A',
            chr(195).chr(132) => 'A', chr(195).chr(133) => 'A',
            chr(195).chr(134) => 'AE',chr(195).chr(135) => 'C',
            chr(195).chr(136) => 'E', chr(195).chr(137) => 'E',
            chr(195).chr(138) => 'E', chr(195).chr(139) => 'E',
            chr(195).chr(140) => 'I', chr(195).chr(141) => 'I',
            chr(195).chr(142) => 'I', chr(195).chr(143) => 'I',
            chr(195).chr(144) => 'D', chr(195).chr(145) => 'N',
            chr(195).chr(146) => 'O', chr(195).chr(147) => 'O',
            chr(195).chr(148) => 'O', chr(195).chr(149) => 'O',
            chr(195).chr(150) => 'O', chr(195).chr(153) => 'U',
            chr(195).chr(154) => 'U', chr(195).chr(155) => 'U',
            chr(195).chr(156) => 'U', chr(195).chr(157) => 'Y',
            chr(195).chr(158) => 'TH',chr(195).chr(159) => 's',
            chr(195).chr(160) => 'a', chr(195).chr(161) => 'a',
            chr(195).chr(162) => 'a', chr(195).chr(163) => 'a',
            chr(195).chr(164) => 'a', chr(195).chr(165) => 'a',
            chr(195).chr(166) => 'ae',chr(195).chr(167) => 'c',
            chr(195).chr(168) => 'e', chr(195).chr(169) => 'e',
            chr(195).chr(170) => 'e', chr(195).chr(171) => 'e',
            chr(195).chr(172) => 'i', chr(195).chr(173) => 'i',
            chr(195).chr(174) => 'i', chr(195).chr(175) => 'i',
            chr(195).chr(176) => 'd', chr(195).chr(177) => 'n',
            chr(195).chr(178) => 'o', chr(195).chr(179) => 'o',
            chr(195).chr(180) => 'o', chr(195).chr(181) => 'o',
            chr(195).chr(182) => 'o', chr(195).chr(184) => 'o',
            chr(195).chr(185) => 'u', chr(195).chr(186) => 'u',
            chr(195).chr(187) => 'u', chr(195).chr(188) => 'u',
            chr(195).chr(189) => 'y', chr(195).chr(190) => 'th',
            chr(195).chr(191) => 'y', chr(195).chr(152) => 'O',
            // Decompositions for Latin Extended-A
            chr(196).chr(128) => 'A', chr(196).chr(129) => 'a',
            chr(196).chr(130) => 'A', chr(196).chr(131) => 'a',
            chr(196).chr(132) => 'A', chr(196).chr(133) => 'a',
            chr(196).chr(134) => 'C', chr(196).chr(135) => 'c',
            chr(196).chr(136) => 'C', chr(196).chr(137) => 'c',
            chr(196).chr(138) => 'C', chr(196).chr(139) => 'c',
            chr(196).chr(140) => 'C', chr(196).chr(141) => 'c',
            chr(196).chr(142) => 'D', chr(196).chr(143) => 'd',
            chr(196).chr(144) => 'D', chr(196).chr(145) => 'd',
            chr(196).chr(146) => 'E', chr(196).chr(147) => 'e',
            chr(196).chr(148) => 'E', chr(196).chr(149) => 'e',
            chr(196).chr(150) => 'E', chr(196).chr(151) => 'e',
            chr(196).chr(152) => 'E', chr(196).chr(153) => 'e',
            chr(196).chr(154) => 'E', chr(196).chr(155) => 'e',
            chr(196).chr(156) => 'G', chr(196).chr(157) => 'g',
            chr(196).chr(158) => 'G', chr(196).chr(159) => 'g',
            chr(196).chr(160) => 'G', chr(196).chr(161) => 'g',
            chr(196).chr(162) => 'G', chr(196).chr(163) => 'g',
            chr(196).chr(164) => 'H', chr(196).chr(165) => 'h',
            chr(196).chr(166) => 'H', chr(196).chr(167) => 'h',
            chr(196).chr(168) => 'I', chr(196).chr(169) => 'i',
            chr(196).chr(170) => 'I', chr(196).chr(171) => 'i',
            chr(196).chr(172) => 'I', chr(196).chr(173) => 'i',
            chr(196).chr(174) => 'I', chr(196).chr(175) => 'i',
            chr(196).chr(176) => 'I', chr(196).chr(177) => 'i',
            chr(196).chr(178) => 'IJ',chr(196).chr(179) => 'ij',
            chr(196).chr(180) => 'J', chr(196).chr(181) => 'j',
            chr(196).chr(182) => 'K', chr(196).chr(183) => 'k',
            chr(196).chr(184) => 'k', chr(196).chr(185) => 'L',
            chr(196).chr(186) => 'l', chr(196).chr(187) => 'L',
            chr(196).chr(188) => 'l', chr(196).chr(189) => 'L',
            chr(196).chr(190) => 'l', chr(196).chr(191) => 'L',
            chr(197).chr(128) => 'l', chr(197).chr(129) => 'L',
            chr(197).chr(130) => 'l', chr(197).chr(131) => 'N',
            chr(197).chr(132) => 'n', chr(197).chr(133) => 'N',
            chr(197).chr(134) => 'n', chr(197).chr(135) => 'N',
            chr(197).chr(136) => 'n', chr(197).chr(137) => 'N',
            chr(197).chr(138) => 'n', chr(197).chr(139) => 'N',
            chr(197).chr(140) => 'O', chr(197).chr(141) => 'o',
            chr(197).chr(142) => 'O', chr(197).chr(143) => 'o',
            chr(197).chr(144) => 'O', chr(197).chr(145) => 'o',
            chr(197).chr(146) => 'OE',chr(197).chr(147) => 'oe',
            chr(197).chr(148) => 'R',chr(197).chr(149) => 'r',
            chr(197).chr(150) => 'R',chr(197).chr(151) => 'r',
            chr(197).chr(152) => 'R',chr(197).chr(153) => 'r',
            chr(197).chr(154) => 'S',chr(197).chr(155) => 's',
            chr(197).chr(156) => 'S',chr(197).chr(157) => 's',
            chr(197).chr(158) => 'S',chr(197).chr(159) => 's',
            chr(197).chr(160) => 'S', chr(197).chr(161) => 's',
            chr(197).chr(162) => 'T', chr(197).chr(163) => 't',
            chr(197).chr(164) => 'T', chr(197).chr(165) => 't',
            chr(197).chr(166) => 'T', chr(197).chr(167) => 't',
            chr(197).chr(168) => 'U', chr(197).chr(169) => 'u',
            chr(197).chr(170) => 'U', chr(197).chr(171) => 'u',
            chr(197).chr(172) => 'U', chr(197).chr(173) => 'u',
            chr(197).chr(174) => 'U', chr(197).chr(175) => 'u',
            chr(197).chr(176) => 'U', chr(197).chr(177) => 'u',
            chr(197).chr(178) => 'U', chr(197).chr(179) => 'u',
            chr(197).chr(180) => 'W', chr(197).chr(181) => 'w',
            chr(197).chr(182) => 'Y', chr(197).chr(183) => 'y',
            chr(197).chr(184) => 'Y', chr(197).chr(185) => 'Z',
            chr(197).chr(186) => 'z', chr(197).chr(187) => 'Z',
            chr(197).chr(188) => 'z', chr(197).chr(189) => 'Z',
            chr(197).chr(190) => 'z', chr(197).chr(191) => 's',
            // Decompositions for Latin Extended-B
            chr(200).chr(152) => 'S', chr(200).chr(153) => 's',
            chr(200).chr(154) => 'T', chr(200).chr(155) => 't',
            // Euro Sign
            chr(226).chr(130).chr(172) => 'E',
            // GBP (Pound) Sign
            chr(194).chr(163) => '',
            // Vowels with diacritic (Vietnamese)
            // unmarked
            chr(198).chr(160) => 'O', chr(198).chr(161) => 'o',
            chr(198).chr(175) => 'U', chr(198).chr(176) => 'u',
            // grave accent
            chr(225).chr(186).chr(166) => 'A', chr(225).chr(186).chr(167) => 'a',
            chr(225).chr(186).chr(176) => 'A', chr(225).chr(186).chr(177) => 'a',
            chr(225).chr(187).chr(128) => 'E', chr(225).chr(187).chr(129) => 'e',
            chr(225).chr(187).chr(146) => 'O', chr(225).chr(187).chr(147) => 'o',
            chr(225).chr(187).chr(156) => 'O', chr(225).chr(187).chr(157) => 'o',
            chr(225).chr(187).chr(170) => 'U', chr(225).chr(187).chr(171) => 'u',
            chr(225).chr(187).chr(178) => 'Y', chr(225).chr(187).chr(179) => 'y',
            // hook
            chr(225).chr(186).chr(162) => 'A', chr(225).chr(186).chr(163) => 'a',
            chr(225).chr(186).chr(168) => 'A', chr(225).chr(186).chr(169) => 'a',
            chr(225).chr(186).chr(178) => 'A', chr(225).chr(186).chr(179) => 'a',
            chr(225).chr(186).chr(186) => 'E', chr(225).chr(186).chr(187) => 'e',
            chr(225).chr(187).chr(130) => 'E', chr(225).chr(187).chr(131) => 'e',
            chr(225).chr(187).chr(136) => 'I', chr(225).chr(187).chr(137) => 'i',
            chr(225).chr(187).chr(142) => 'O', chr(225).chr(187).chr(143) => 'o',
            chr(225).chr(187).chr(148) => 'O', chr(225).chr(187).chr(149) => 'o',
            chr(225).chr(187).chr(158) => 'O', chr(225).chr(187).chr(159) => 'o',
            chr(225).chr(187).chr(166) => 'U', chr(225).chr(187).chr(167) => 'u',
            chr(225).chr(187).chr(172) => 'U', chr(225).chr(187).chr(173) => 'u',
            chr(225).chr(187).chr(182) => 'Y', chr(225).chr(187).chr(183) => 'y',
            // tilde
            chr(225).chr(186).chr(170) => 'A', chr(225).chr(186).chr(171) => 'a',
            chr(225).chr(186).chr(180) => 'A', chr(225).chr(186).chr(181) => 'a',
            chr(225).chr(186).chr(188) => 'E', chr(225).chr(186).chr(189) => 'e',
            chr(225).chr(187).chr(132) => 'E', chr(225).chr(187).chr(133) => 'e',
            chr(225).chr(187).chr(150) => 'O', chr(225).chr(187).chr(151) => 'o',
            chr(225).chr(187).chr(160) => 'O', chr(225).chr(187).chr(161) => 'o',
            chr(225).chr(187).chr(174) => 'U', chr(225).chr(187).chr(175) => 'u',
            chr(225).chr(187).chr(184) => 'Y', chr(225).chr(187).chr(185) => 'y',
            // acute accent
            chr(225).chr(186).chr(164) => 'A', chr(225).chr(186).chr(165) => 'a',
            chr(225).chr(186).chr(174) => 'A', chr(225).chr(186).chr(175) => 'a',
            chr(225).chr(186).chr(190) => 'E', chr(225).chr(186).chr(191) => 'e',
            chr(225).chr(187).chr(144) => 'O', chr(225).chr(187).chr(145) => 'o',
            chr(225).chr(187).chr(154) => 'O', chr(225).chr(187).chr(155) => 'o',
            chr(225).chr(187).chr(168) => 'U', chr(225).chr(187).chr(169) => 'u',
            // dot below
            chr(225).chr(186).chr(160) => 'A', chr(225).chr(186).chr(161) => 'a',
            chr(225).chr(186).chr(172) => 'A', chr(225).chr(186).chr(173) => 'a',
            chr(225).chr(186).chr(182) => 'A', chr(225).chr(186).chr(183) => 'a',
            chr(225).chr(186).chr(184) => 'E', chr(225).chr(186).chr(185) => 'e',
            chr(225).chr(187).chr(134) => 'E', chr(225).chr(187).chr(135) => 'e',
            chr(225).chr(187).chr(138) => 'I', chr(225).chr(187).chr(139) => 'i',
            chr(225).chr(187).chr(140) => 'O', chr(225).chr(187).chr(141) => 'o',
            chr(225).chr(187).chr(152) => 'O', chr(225).chr(187).chr(153) => 'o',
            chr(225).chr(187).chr(162) => 'O', chr(225).chr(187).chr(163) => 'o',
            chr(225).chr(187).chr(164) => 'U', chr(225).chr(187).chr(165) => 'u',
            chr(225).chr(187).chr(176) => 'U', chr(225).chr(187).chr(177) => 'u',
            chr(225).chr(187).chr(180) => 'Y', chr(225).chr(187).chr(181) => 'y',
            // Vowels with diacritic (Chinese, Hanyu Pinyin)
            chr(201).chr(145) => 'a',
            // macron
            chr(199).chr(149) => 'U', chr(199).chr(150) => 'u',
            // acute accent
            chr(199).chr(151) => 'U', chr(199).chr(152) => 'u',
            // caron
            chr(199).chr(141) => 'A', chr(199).chr(142) => 'a',
            chr(199).chr(143) => 'I', chr(199).chr(144) => 'i',
            chr(199).chr(145) => 'O', chr(199).chr(146) => 'o',
            chr(199).chr(147) => 'U', chr(199).chr(148) => 'u',
            chr(199).chr(153) => 'U', chr(199).chr(154) => 'u',
            // grave accent
            chr(199).chr(155) => 'U', chr(199).chr(156) => 'u',
        );

        // Used for locale-specific rules
        #$locale = get_locale();
        $locale = 'fr_FR';

        if ( 'de_DE' == $locale ) {
            $chars[ chr(195).chr(132) ] = 'Ae';
            $chars[ chr(195).chr(164) ] = 'ae';
            $chars[ chr(195).chr(150) ] = 'Oe';
            $chars[ chr(195).chr(182) ] = 'oe';
            $chars[ chr(195).chr(156) ] = 'Ue';
            $chars[ chr(195).chr(188) ] = 'ue';
            $chars[ chr(195).chr(159) ] = 'ss';
        } elseif ( 'da_DK' === $locale ) {
            $chars[ chr(195).chr(134) ] = 'Ae';
            $chars[ chr(195).chr(166) ] = 'ae';
            $chars[ chr(195).chr(152) ] = 'Oe';
            $chars[ chr(195).chr(184) ] = 'oe';
            $chars[ chr(195).chr(133) ] = 'Aa';
            $chars[ chr(195).chr(165) ] = 'aa';
        }

        $string = strtr($string, $chars);
    } else {
        // Assume ISO-8859-1 if not UTF-8
        $chars['in'] = chr(128).chr(131).chr(138).chr(142).chr(154).chr(158)
            .chr(159).chr(162).chr(165).chr(181).chr(192).chr(193).chr(194)
            .chr(195).chr(196).chr(197).chr(199).chr(200).chr(201).chr(202)
            .chr(203).chr(204).chr(205).chr(206).chr(207).chr(209).chr(210)
            .chr(211).chr(212).chr(213).chr(214).chr(216).chr(217).chr(218)
            .chr(219).chr(220).chr(221).chr(224).chr(225).chr(226).chr(227)
            .chr(228).chr(229).chr(231).chr(232).chr(233).chr(234).chr(235)
            .chr(236).chr(237).chr(238).chr(239).chr(241).chr(242).chr(243)
            .chr(244).chr(245).chr(246).chr(248).chr(249).chr(250).chr(251)
            .chr(252).chr(253).chr(255);

        $chars['out'] = "EfSZszYcYuAAAAAACEEEEIIIINOOOOOOUUUUYaaaaaaceeeeiiiinoooooouuuuyy";

        $string = strtr($string, $chars['in'], $chars['out']);
        $double_chars['in'] = array(chr(140), chr(156), chr(198), chr(208), chr(222), chr(223), chr(230), chr(240), chr(254));
        $double_chars['out'] = array('OE', 'oe', 'AE', 'DH', 'TH', 'ss', 'ae', 'dh', 'th');
        $string = str_replace($double_chars['in'], $double_chars['out'], $string);
    }

    return $string;
}


function seems_utf8($str) {
    $length = strlen($str);
    for ($i=0; $i < $length; $i++) {
        $c = ord($str[$i]);
        if ($c < 0x80) $n = 0; # 0bbbbbbb
        elseif (($c & 0xE0) == 0xC0) $n=1; # 110bbbbb
        elseif (($c & 0xF0) == 0xE0) $n=2; # 1110bbbb
        elseif (($c & 0xF8) == 0xF0) $n=3; # 11110bbb
        elseif (($c & 0xFC) == 0xF8) $n=4; # 111110bb
        elseif (($c & 0xFE) == 0xFC) $n=5; # 1111110b
        else return false; # Does not match any model
        for ($j=0; $j<$n; $j++) { # n bytes matching 10bbbbbb follow ?
            if ((++$i == $length) || ((ord($str[$i]) & 0xC0) != 0x80))
                return false;
        }
    }
    return true;
}
Robert Sinclair
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    "Uses Wordpress functions" and "does not require special libraries" seems contradictory to me! Also note you can use `"\u{e9}"` unicode escapes instead of manually entering the byte sequences. And finally, databases do this already with collations so generally there is no need to do this. – Niet the Dark Absol Apr 19 '19 at 16:44
-1

Try this:

$original_string = 'test en français : éèêÉ';

$accents = array('Š'=>'S', 'š'=>'s', 'Ž'=>'Z', 'ž'=>'z', 'À'=>'A', 'Á'=>'A','Â'=>'A', 'Ã'=>'A', 'Ä'=>'A', 'Å'=>'A', 'Æ'=>'A', 'Ç'=>'C', 'È'=>'E', 'É'=>'E','Ê'=>'E','Ë'=>'E', 'Ì'=>'I', 'Í'=>'I', 'Î'=>'I', 'Ï'=>'I', 'Ñ'=>'N', 'Ò'=>'O', 'Ó'=>'O', 'Ô'=>'O','Õ'=>'O', 'Ö'=>'O', 'Ø'=>'O', 'Ù'=>'U','Ú'=>'U', 'Û'=>'U', 'Ü'=>'U', 'Ý'=>'Y','Þ'=>'B','ß'=>'Ss', 'à'=>'a', 'á'=>'a', 'â'=>'a', 'ã'=>'a', 'ä'=>'a', 'å'=>'a','æ'=>'a','ç'=>'c','è'=>'e', 'é'=>'e', 'ê'=>'e', 'ë'=>'e', 'ì'=>'i', 'í'=>'i', 'î'=>'i', 'ï'=>'i','ð'=>'o', 'ñ'=>'n', 'ò'=>'o', 'ó'=>'o', 'ô'=>'o', 'õ'=>'o','ö'=>'o', 'ø'=>'o', 'ù'=>'u','ú'=>'u', 'û'=>'u', 'ý'=>'y', 'þ'=>'b', 'ÿ'=>'y','Ğ'=>'G', 'İ'=>'I', 'Ş'=>'S', 'ğ'=>'g', 'ı'=>'i', 'ş'=>'s', 'ü'=>'u','ă'=>'a', 'Ă'=>'A', 'ș'=>'s', 'Ș'=>'S', 'ț'=>'t', 'Ț'=>'T');

$str_without_accents = strtr($original_string, $accents);

echo $str_without_accents;

Since French accents haven't changed over the past 200 years, there's little concern over "maintenance" of such a hard-coded list.

Cody Gray - on strike
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