All given answers will break on general Unicode strings. The following works for Python3 in all cases, as far as I can tell:
from codecs import encode, decode
sample = u'mon€y\\nröcks'
result = decode[encode[sample, 'latin-1', 'backslashreplace'], 'unicode-escape']
print[result]
In recent Python versions, this also works without the import:
sample = u'mon€y\\nröcks'
result = sample.encode['latin-1', 'backslashreplace'].decode['unicode-escape']
As outlined in the comments, you can also use the literal_eval method from the ast module like so:
import ast
sample = u'mon€y\\nröcks'
print[ast.literal_eval[F'"{sample}"']]
Or like this when your string really contains a string literal [including the quotes]:
import ast
sample = u'"mon€y\\nröcks"'
print[ast.literal_eval[sample]]
However, if you are uncertain whether the input string uses double or single quotes as delimiters, or when you cannot assume it to be properly escaped at all, then literal_eval may raise a SyntaxError while the encode/decode method will still work.
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There are two ways to go about unescaping backslash escaped strings in Python. First is using literal_eval to evaluate the string. Note that in this method you need to surround the string in another layer of quotes. For example:
>>> import ast >>> a = '"Hello,\\nworld"' >>> print ast.literal_eval[a] Hello, world
Another way is to use the decode['string_escape'] method from the string class. For example,
>>> print "Hello,\\nworld".decode['string_escape'] Hello, world
Rajendra Dharmkar
Updated on 30-Sep-2019 07:12:07
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Sometimes, we want to un-escape a backslash-escaped string with Python.
In this article, we’ll look at how to un-escape a backslash-escaped string with Python.
How to un-escape a backslash-escaped string with Python?
To un-escape a backslash-escaped string with Python, we can use the string encode and decode method.
For instance, we write
s = my_string.encode['raw_unicode_escape'].decode['unicode_escape']
to call encode with 'raw_unicode_escape' to encode the string as an escaped string.
Then
we call decode with 'unicode_escape' to unescape the string.
Conclusion
To un-escape a backslash-escaped string with Python, we can use the string encode and decode method.
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