javascripttypescriptunicodecharacter

How to convert a string (HTML Entity) to a unicode character

I have a string like

const mystring1 = "😁" // -> 😉
const mystring2 = "ሴ"  // -> ሴ
const mystring3 = "@"    // -> @

How do I get the Unicode characters using String.fromCodepoint()?

Solution

  • If you want to turn something like "😁" into the actual emoji using String.fromCodePoint(), just grab the hex part, convert it, and you're good.

    Here's what worked for me:

    parseInt(hex, 16) converts it from hex to decimal, and String.fromCodePoint gives you the actual character.

    function decodeHexEntity(hexEntity) {
  const hex = hexEntity.replace('&#x', '').replace(';', '');
  return String.fromCodePoint(parseInt(hex, 16));
}

const mystring1 = "😁";
const mystring2 = "ሴ";
const mystring3 = "@";

console.log(decodeHexEntity(mystring1)); // 😁
console.log(decodeHexEntity(mystring2)); // ሴ
console.log(decodeHexEntity(mystring3)); // @