Converting unicode characters through javascript

Question

I have retrieved the following text (some of them are Chinese characters) from php script as the select options, but unable to turn them into readable characters (whether through php or javascript), please advice.

\\xe8\\xac\\x9b\\xe5\\x91\\xa2D\\xe3\\x80\\x82

To do this, first you must know what transformation the characters are in. The above don't seem to be UTF-16 (either LE or BE; if they were, this would be straightforward). So that's the first thing. — T.J. Crowder
– T.J. Crowder, Commented Dec 20, 2013 at 10:47

punund · Accepted Answer · 2013-12-20 11:38:10Z

4

input = '\xe8\xac\x9b\xe5\x91\xa2D\xe3\x80\x82'
console.log(decodeURIComponent(escape(input)))

This gives you exactly

講呢D。

UPDATE

If your string really contains \x characters, then we can convert them to %s first:

input = '\\xe8\\xac\\x9b\\xe5\\x91\\xa2D\\xe3\\x80\\x82'

decodeURIComponent(input.replace(/\\x/g, '%'))

edited Dec 20, 2013 at 11:38

answered Dec 20, 2013 at 11:11

punund

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2 Comments

user2499325 Over a year ago

I still cannot get it right, but can see the right characters through browser's console imageupload.co.uk/images/2013/12/20/000.jpg

user2499325 Over a year ago

Million thanks, finally, I got it right!! Thanks for all the replies!

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-23 10:25:29Z

While @punund's answer is correct, it is also possible to make bytes to UTF conversion manually.

In the Unicode char map Chinese characters occupy 3 bytes in the range 00000800 — 0000FFFF, hence your string of bytes should be grouped by three and transformed to the real UTF characters.

Here is one possible solution:

var str = '\\xe8\\xac\\x9b\\xe5\\x91\\xa2D\\xe3\\x80\\x82',
    result = str.replace(/(\\{1,2}x[0-9a-f]{2}){3}/g, function(c) {
        var u = eval('"' + c + '"');
        return String.fromCharCode(
             ((u.charCodeAt(0) & 15) << 12) |
             ((u.charCodeAt(1) & 63) << 6) |
              (u.charCodeAt(2) & 63));
    });

console.log(result);   // "講呢D。"

N.B.: while using eval is not recommended, in the provided example it is completely harmless.

Thanks for the comment, I have learnt much from the thread :)

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