Unicode literals that work in python 3 and 2

Question

So I have a python script that I'd prefer worked on python 3.2 and 2.7 just for convenience.

Is there a way to have unicode literals that work in both? E.g.

#coding: utf-8
whatever = 'שלום'

The above code would require a unicode string in python 2.x (u'') and in python 3.x that little u causes a syntax error.

@ubershmekel Which solution would you recommend? Yours or the accept answer's? — satoru, Apr 19 '13 at 02:29
I'd recommend using `u''` since it is now supported in python 3.3 — ubershmekel, Apr 20 '13 at 15:42

score 27 · Accepted Answer · edited Sep 26 '15 at 06:49

27

Edit - Since Python 3.3, the u'' literal works again, so the u() function isn't needed.

The best option is to make a method that creates unicode objects from string objects in Python 2, but leaves the string objects alone in Python 3 (as they are already unicode).

import sys
if sys.version < '3':
    import codecs
    def u(x):
        return codecs.unicode_escape_decode(x)[0]
else:
    def u(x):
        return x

You would then use it like so:

>>> print(u('\u00dcnic\u00f6de'))
Ünicöde
>>> print(u('\xdcnic\N{Latin Small Letter O with diaeresis}de'))
Ünicöde

edited Sep 26 '15 at 06:49

ubershmekel

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answered Jul 09 '11 at 05:49

Lennart Regebro

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I'd accept your answer if you removed the second part because it doesn't work for unicode literals that contain actual unescaped unicode. edit - I'd be just as happy if you clarified that nuance in the answer. – ubershmekel Jul 15 '11 at 06:45
You don't pass in unicode literals, you pass in string literals, that's the whole point of it. I tried to clarify this. – Lennart Regebro Jul 15 '11 at 09:21
2

"u() function isn't needed.", well it's needed in order to support the people who is still using Python 3.2. – Esparta Palma Oct 02 '13 at 23:50
Is a 'unicode literal' not a type of 'string literal'? – hippietrail Feb 10 '16 at 07:57
In Python 3 they are the same thing, in Python 2 they are not. – Lennart Regebro Feb 12 '16 at 21:56

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 04 '19 at 14:35

0

In 3.0, 3.1, and 3.2:

from __future__ import unicode_literals

Source: ubershmekel, in the question. See revision 4 for the original.

answered Jun 04 '19 at 14:35

wjandrea

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Unicode literals that work in python 3 and 2

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