Ruby unescape hex code in string

Question

Does Ruby have a method to unescape hex codes within a string?

For example:

  string = "Plus minus symbol: &#xB1;"

How can I print that string with the hex code replaced with the actual character: "±"? I'm looking for a generic solution that works for any hex code.

I was able to decode the special character using HTMLEntities.new.decode(string). Thanks @theTinMan! — DanVoges, May 16 '17 at 15:03

Gerry · Answer 1 · 2017-05-16T03:11:44.267

1

You could use Nokogiri to parse the symbol and then add it to your string:

require 'nokogiri'

symbol = Nokogiri::HTML.parse("&#xB1;").text
#=> "±"

string = "Plus minus symbol: #{symbol}"
#=> "Plus minus symbol: ±"

edited May 16 '17 at 03:11

answered May 15 '17 at 20:56

Gerry

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Nokogiri is overkill for this. – the Tin Man May 15 '17 at 22:18
@theTinMan It could be, i guess it depends on the scope. But i'll add another option with `CGI`. Thanks for your comment! – Gerry May 15 '17 at 22:31
CGI is out of date, and has holes for this so be careful. I'd recommend the solution in the question linked in the close reason. – the Tin Man May 16 '17 at 00:48
@theTinMan Ohh, ok, thanks again. I'll check the linked question. – Gerry May 16 '17 at 01:31
Solution is in linked post. My question wasn't about HTML but the htmlentities gem does the trick. – DanVoges May 16 '17 at 15:05

Ruby unescape hex code in string

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