Multiple unique replacements in a python string

Question

I want to replace fraction with unicode characters by lookup if it in the dictionary but can't find the way to do it.

fixs = {
    '1/2': '¹⁄₂',
    '1/4': '¹⁄₄',
    '3/8': '³⁄₈',
     ...
    # '': '⁰¹²³⁴⁵⁶⁷⁸⁹⁄₀₁₂₃₄₅₆₇₈₉',
}

My current solution is obviously bad

def fix_fraction(string):
    return string.replace('1/2', '¹⁄₂').replace('1/4', '¹⁄₄').replace('3/8', '³⁄₈')

The input of fix_fraction might have text mixed in with unknown position so I can't just split the fraction out and I can't write regex successfully.

Sample usage:

print(fix_fraction('item A d=1/2″'))
print(fix_fraction('item B d=3/8 m'))

item A d=¹⁄₂″                                                                                                                                                                                          
item B d=³⁄₈ m

Dictionary is expected to have no more than 100 entries but ultimate solution that support any fraction is also welcomed.

Any idea how to do this correctly?

It can be done using unicode subscripts and superscripts, something like: unichr(0x2070 + v) where v is a digit. — axaroth, Jul 27 '17 at 12:51

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 27 '17 at 11:55

One possible approach is to just loop over your fixs and replace items in the text within the loop:

In [938]: text = 'item B d=3/8 m'

In [939]: for k in fixs:
     ...:     text = text.replace(k, fixs[k]) 
     ...:     

In [940]: text
Out[940]: 'item B d=³⁄₈ m'

Multiple unique replacements in a python string

1 Answers1