How to Remove Accents and Turn Letters into "Plain" Ascii Characters

How to remove accents and turn letters into plain ASCII characters?

If you have iconv installed, try this (the example assumes your input string is in UTF-8):

echo iconv('UTF-8', 'ASCII//TRANSLIT', $string);

(iconv is a library to convert between all kinds of encodings; it's efficient and included with many PHP distributions by default. Most of all, it's definitely easier and more error-proof than trying to roll your own solution (did you know that there's a "Latin letter N with a curl"? Me neither.))

Replacing accented characters with plain ascii ones

The correct terminology for such accents is Diacritics. After Googling this term, I found this function which is part of backbone.paginator. It has a very complete collection of Diacritics and replaces them with their most intuitive ascii character. I found this to be the most complete Javascript solution available today.

The full function for future reference:

function removeDiacritics (str) {

  var defaultDiacriticsRemovalMap = [
    {'base':'A', 'letters':/[\u0041\u24B6\uFF21\u00C0\u00C1\u00C2\u1EA6\u1EA4\u1EAA\u1EA8\u00C3\u0100\u0102\u1EB0\u1EAE\u1EB4\u1EB2\u0226\u01E0\u00C4\u01DE\u1EA2\u00C5\u01FA\u01CD\u0200\u0202\u1EA0\u1EAC\u1EB6\u1E00\u0104\u023A\u2C6F]/g},
    {'base':'AA','letters':/[\uA732]/g},
    {'base':'AE','letters':/[\u00C6\u01FC\u01E2]/g},
    {'base':'AO','letters':/[\uA734]/g},
    {'base':'AU','letters':/[\uA736]/g},
    {'base':'AV','letters':/[\uA738\uA73A]/g},
    {'base':'AY','letters':/[\uA73C]/g},
    {'base':'B', 'letters':/[\u0042\u24B7\uFF22\u1E02\u1E04\u1E06\u0243\u0182\u0181]/g},
    {'base':'C', 'letters':/[\u0043\u24B8\uFF23\u0106\u0108\u010A\u010C\u00C7\u1E08\u0187\u023B\uA73E]/g},
    {'base':'D', 'letters':/[\u0044\u24B9\uFF24\u1E0A\u010E\u1E0C\u1E10\u1E12\u1E0E\u0110\u018B\u018A\u0189\uA779]/g},
    {'base':'DZ','letters':/[\u01F1\u01C4]/g},
    {'base':'Dz','letters':/[\u01F2\u01C5]/g},
    {'base':'E', 'letters':/[\u0045\u24BA\uFF25\u00C8\u00C9\u00CA\u1EC0\u1EBE\u1EC4\u1EC2\u1EBC\u0112\u1E14\u1E16\u0114\u0116\u00CB\u1EBA\u011A\u0204\u0206\u1EB8\u1EC6\u0228\u1E1C\u0118\u1E18\u1E1A\u0190\u018E]/g},
    {'base':'F', 'letters':/[\u0046\u24BB\uFF26\u1E1E\u0191\uA77B]/g},
    {'base':'G', 'letters':/[\u0047\u24BC\uFF27\u01F4\u011C\u1E20\u011E\u0120\u01E6\u0122\u01E4\u0193\uA7A0\uA77D\uA77E]/g},
    {'base':'H', 'letters':/[\u0048\u24BD\uFF28\u0124\u1E22\u1E26\u021E\u1E24\u1E28\u1E2A\u0126\u2C67\u2C75\uA78D]/g},
    {'base':'I', 'letters':/[\u0049\u24BE\uFF29\u00CC\u00CD\u00CE\u0128\u012A\u012C\u0130\u00CF\u1E2E\u1EC8\u01CF\u0208\u020A\u1ECA\u012E\u1E2C\u0197]/g},
    {'base':'J', 'letters':/[\u004A\u24BF\uFF2A\u0134\u0248]/g},
    {'base':'K', 'letters':/[\u004B\u24C0\uFF2B\u1E30\u01E8\u1E32\u0136\u1E34\u0198\u2C69\uA740\uA742\uA744\uA7A2]/g},
    {'base':'L', 'letters':/[\u004C\u24C1\uFF2C\u013F\u0139\u013D\u1E36\u1E38\u013B\u1E3C\u1E3A\u0141\u023D\u2C62\u2C60\uA748\uA746\uA780]/g},
    {'base':'LJ','letters':/[\u01C7]/g},
    {'base':'Lj','letters':/[\u01C8]/g},
    {'base':'M', 'letters':/[\u004D\u24C2\uFF2D\u1E3E\u1E40\u1E42\u2C6E\u019C]/g},
    {'base':'N', 'letters':/[\u004E\u24C3\uFF2E\u01F8\u0143\u00D1\u1E44\u0147\u1E46\u0145\u1E4A\u1E48\u0220\u019D\uA790\uA7A4]/g},
    {'base':'NJ','letters':/[\u01CA]/g},
    {'base':'Nj','letters':/[\u01CB]/g},
    {'base':'O', 'letters':/[\u004F\u24C4\uFF2F\u00D2\u00D3\u00D4\u1ED2\u1ED0\u1ED6\u1ED4\u00D5\u1E4C\u022C\u1E4E\u014C\u1E50\u1E52\u014E\u022E\u0230\u00D6\u022A\u1ECE\u0150\u01D1\u020C\u020E\u01A0\u1EDC\u1EDA\u1EE0\u1EDE\u1EE2\u1ECC\u1ED8\u01EA\u01EC\u00D8\u01FE\u0186\u019F\uA74A\uA74C]/g},
    {'base':'OI','letters':/[\u01A2]/g},
    {'base':'OO','letters':/[\uA74E]/g},
    {'base':'OU','letters':/[\u0222]/g},
    {'base':'P', 'letters':/[\u0050\u24C5\uFF30\u1E54\u1E56\u01A4\u2C63\uA750\uA752\uA754]/g},
    {'base':'Q', 'letters':/[\u0051\u24C6\uFF31\uA756\uA758\u024A]/g},
    {'base':'R', 'letters':/[\u0052\u24C7\uFF32\u0154\u1E58\u0158\u0210\u0212\u1E5A\u1E5C\u0156\u1E5E\u024C\u2C64\uA75A\uA7A6\uA782]/g},
    {'base':'S', 'letters':/[\u0053\u24C8\uFF33\u1E9E\u015A\u1E64\u015C\u1E60\u0160\u1E66\u1E62\u1E68\u0218\u015E\u2C7E\uA7A8\uA784]/g},
    {'base':'T', 'letters':/[\u0054\u24C9\uFF34\u1E6A\u0164\u1E6C\u021A\u0162\u1E70\u1E6E\u0166\u01AC\u01AE\u023E\uA786]/g},
    {'base':'TZ','letters':/[\uA728]/g},
    {'base':'U', 'letters':/[\u0055\u24CA\uFF35\u00D9\u00DA\u00DB\u0168\u1E78\u016A\u1E7A\u016C\u00DC\u01DB\u01D7\u01D5\u01D9\u1EE6\u016E\u0170\u01D3\u0214\u0216\u01AF\u1EEA\u1EE8\u1EEE\u1EEC\u1EF0\u1EE4\u1E72\u0172\u1E76\u1E74\u0244]/g},
    {'base':'V', 'letters':/[\u0056\u24CB\uFF36\u1E7C\u1E7E\u01B2\uA75E\u0245]/g},
    {'base':'VY','letters':/[\uA760]/g},
    {'base':'W', 'letters':/[\u0057\u24CC\uFF37\u1E80\u1E82\u0174\u1E86\u1E84\u1E88\u2C72]/g},
    {'base':'X', 'letters':/[\u0058\u24CD\uFF38\u1E8A\u1E8C]/g},
    {'base':'Y', 'letters':/[\u0059\u24CE\uFF39\u1EF2\u00DD\u0176\u1EF8\u0232\u1E8E\u0178\u1EF6\u1EF4\u01B3\u024E\u1EFE]/g},
    {'base':'Z', 'letters':/[\u005A\u24CF\uFF3A\u0179\u1E90\u017B\u017D\u1E92\u1E94\u01B5\u0224\u2C7F\u2C6B\uA762]/g},
    {'base':'a', 'letters':/[\u0061\u24D0\uFF41\u1E9A\u00E0\u00E1\u00E2\u1EA7\u1EA5\u1EAB\u1EA9\u00E3\u0101\u0103\u1EB1\u1EAF\u1EB5\u1EB3\u0227\u01E1\u00E4\u01DF\u1EA3\u00E5\u01FB\u01CE\u0201\u0203\u1EA1\u1EAD\u1EB7\u1E01\u0105\u2C65\u0250]/g},
    {'base':'aa','letters':/[\uA733]/g},
    {'base':'ae','letters':/[\u00E6\u01FD\u01E3]/g},
    {'base':'ao','letters':/[\uA735]/g},
    {'base':'au','letters':/[\uA737]/g},
    {'base':'av','letters':/[\uA739\uA73B]/g},
    {'base':'ay','letters':/[\uA73D]/g},
    {'base':'b', 'letters':/[\u0062\u24D1\uFF42\u1E03\u1E05\u1E07\u0180\u0183\u0253]/g},
    {'base':'c', 'letters':/[\u0063\u24D2\uFF43\u0107\u0109\u010B\u010D\u00E7\u1E09\u0188\u023C\uA73F\u2184]/g},
    {'base':'d', 'letters':/[\u0064\u24D3\uFF44\u1E0B\u010F\u1E0D\u1E11\u1E13\u1E0F\u0111\u018C\u0256\u0257\uA77A]/g},
    {'base':'dz','letters':/[\u01F3\u01C6]/g},
    {'base':'e', 'letters':/[\u0065\u24D4\uFF45\u00E8\u00E9\u00EA\u1EC1\u1EBF\u1EC5\u1EC3\u1EBD\u0113\u1E15\u1E17\u0115\u0117\u00EB\u1EBB\u011B\u0205\u0207\u1EB9\u1EC7\u0229\u1E1D\u0119\u1E19\u1E1B\u0247\u025B\u01DD]/g},
    {'base':'f', 'letters':/[\u0066\u24D5\uFF46\u1E1F\u0192\uA77C]/g},
    {'base':'g', 'letters':/[\u0067\u24D6\uFF47\u01F5\u011D\u1E21\u011F\u0121\u01E7\u0123\u01E5\u0260\uA7A1\u1D79\uA77F]/g},
    {'base':'h', 'letters':/[\u0068\u24D7\uFF48\u0125\u1E23\u1E27\u021F\u1E25\u1E29\u1E2B\u1E96\u0127\u2C68\u2C76\u0265]/g},
    {'base':'hv','letters':/[\u0195]/g},
    {'base':'i', 'letters':/[\u0069\u24D8\uFF49\u00EC\u00ED\u00EE\u0129\u012B\u012D\u00EF\u1E2F\u1EC9\u01D0\u0209\u020B\u1ECB\u012F\u1E2D\u0268\u0131]/g},
    {'base':'j', 'letters':/[\u006A\u24D9\uFF4A\u0135\u01F0\u0249]/g},
    {'base':'k', 'letters':/[\u006B\u24DA\uFF4B\u1E31\u01E9\u1E33\u0137\u1E35\u0199\u2C6A\uA741\uA743\uA745\uA7A3]/g},
    {'base':'l', 'letters':/[\u006C\u24DB\uFF4C\u0140\u013A\u013E\u1E37\u1E39\u013C\u1E3D\u1E3B\u017F\u0142\u019A\u026B\u2C61\uA749\uA781\uA747]/g},
    {'base':'lj','letters':/[\u01C9]/g},
    {'base':'m', 'letters':/[\u006D\u24DC\uFF4D\u1E3F\u1E41\u1E43\u0271\u026F]/g},
    {'base':'n', 'letters':/[\u006E\u24DD\uFF4E\u01F9\u0144\u00F1\u1E45\u0148\u1E47\u0146\u1E4B\u1E49\u019E\u0272\u0149\uA791\uA7A5]/g},
    {'base':'nj','letters':/[\u01CC]/g},
    {'base':'o', 'letters':/[\u006F\u24DE\uFF4F\u00F2\u00F3\u00F4\u1ED3\u1ED1\u1ED7\u1ED5\u00F5\u1E4D\u022D\u1E4F\u014D\u1E51\u1E53\u014F\u022F\u0231\u00F6\u022B\u1ECF\u0151\u01D2\u020D\u020F\u01A1\u1EDD\u1EDB\u1EE1\u1EDF\u1EE3\u1ECD\u1ED9\u01EB\u01ED\u00F8\u01FF\u0254\uA74B\uA74D\u0275]/g},
    {'base':'oi','letters':/[\u01A3]/g},
    {'base':'ou','letters':/[\u0223]/g},
    {'base':'oo','letters':/[\uA74F]/g},
    {'base':'p','letters':/[\u0070\u24DF\uFF50\u1E55\u1E57\u01A5\u1D7D\uA751\uA753\uA755]/g},
    {'base':'q','letters':/[\u0071\u24E0\uFF51\u024B\uA757\uA759]/g},
    {'base':'r','letters':/[\u0072\u24E1\uFF52\u0155\u1E59\u0159\u0211\u0213\u1E5B\u1E5D\u0157\u1E5F\u024D\u027D\uA75B\uA7A7\uA783]/g},
    {'base':'s','letters':/[\u0073\u24E2\uFF53\u00DF\u015B\u1E65\u015D\u1E61\u0161\u1E67\u1E63\u1E69\u0219\u015F\u023F\uA7A9\uA785\u1E9B]/g},
    {'base':'t','letters':/[\u0074\u24E3\uFF54\u1E6B\u1E97\u0165\u1E6D\u021B\u0163\u1E71\u1E6F\u0167\u01AD\u0288\u2C66\uA787]/g},
    {'base':'tz','letters':/[\uA729]/g},
    {'base':'u','letters':/[\u0075\u24E4\uFF55\u00F9\u00FA\u00FB\u0169\u1E79\u016B\u1E7B\u016D\u00FC\u01DC\u01D8\u01D6\u01DA\u1EE7\u016F\u0171\u01D4\u0215\u0217\u01B0\u1EEB\u1EE9\u1EEF\u1EED\u1EF1\u1EE5\u1E73\u0173\u1E77\u1E75\u0289]/g},
    {'base':'v','letters':/[\u0076\u24E5\uFF56\u1E7D\u1E7F\u028B\uA75F\u028C]/g},
    {'base':'vy','letters':/[\uA761]/g},
    {'base':'w','letters':/[\u0077\u24E6\uFF57\u1E81\u1E83\u0175\u1E87\u1E85\u1E98\u1E89\u2C73]/g},
    {'base':'x','letters':/[\u0078\u24E7\uFF58\u1E8B\u1E8D]/g},
    {'base':'y','letters':/[\u0079\u24E8\uFF59\u1EF3\u00FD\u0177\u1EF9\u0233\u1E8F\u00FF\u1EF7\u1E99\u1EF5\u01B4\u024F\u1EFF]/g},
    {'base':'z','letters':/[\u007A\u24E9\uFF5A\u017A\u1E91\u017C\u017E\u1E93\u1E95\u01B6\u0225\u0240\u2C6C\uA763]/g}
  ];

  for(var i=0; i<defaultDiacriticsRemovalMap.length; i++) {
    str = str.replace(defaultDiacriticsRemovalMap[i].letters, defaultDiacriticsRemovalMap[i].base);
  }

  return str;

}

How do I remove diacritics (accents) from a string in .NET?

I've not used this method, but Michael Kaplan describes a method for doing so in his blog post (with a confusing title) that talks about stripping diacritics: Stripping is an interesting job (aka
On the meaning of meaningless, aka All
Mn characters are non-spacing, but
some are more non-spacing than
others)

static string RemoveDiacritics(string text) 
{
    var normalizedString = text.Normalize(NormalizationForm.FormD);
    var stringBuilder = new StringBuilder(capacity: normalizedString.Length);

    for (int i = 0; i < normalizedString.Length; i++)
    {
        char c = normalizedString[i];
        var unicodeCategory = CharUnicodeInfo.GetUnicodeCategory(c);
        if (unicodeCategory != UnicodeCategory.NonSpacingMark)
        {
            stringBuilder.Append(c);
        }
    }

    return stringBuilder
        .ToString()
        .Normalize(NormalizationForm.FormC);
}

Note that this is a followup to his earlier post: Stripping diacritics....

The approach uses String.Normalize to split the input string into constituent glyphs (basically separating the "base" characters from the diacritics) and then scans the result and retains only the base characters. It's just a little complicated, but really you're looking at a complicated problem.

Of course, if you're limiting yourself to French, you could probably get away with the simple table-based approach in How to remove accents and tilde in a C++ std::string, as recommended by @David Dibben.

What is the best way to remove accents (normalize) in a Python unicode string?

How about this:

import unicodedata
def strip_accents(s):
   return ''.join(c for c in unicodedata.normalize('NFD', s)
                  if unicodedata.category(c) != 'Mn')

This works on greek letters, too:

>>> strip_accents(u"A \u00c0 \u0394 \u038E")
u'A A \u0394 \u03a5'
>>> 

The character category "Mn" stands for Nonspacing_Mark, which is similar to unicodedata.combining in MiniQuark's answer (I didn't think of unicodedata.combining, but it is probably the better solution, because it's more explicit).

And keep in mind, these manipulations may significantly alter the meaning of the text. Accents, Umlauts etc. are not "decoration".

BigQuery: Convert accented characters to their plain ascii equivalents

Try below as quick and simple option for you:

#standardSQL
WITH lookups AS (
  SELECT 
  'ç,æ,œ,á,é,í,ó,ú,à,è,ì,ò,ù,ä,ë,ï,ö,ü,ÿ,â,ê,î,ô,û,å,ø,Ø,Å,Á,À,Â,Ä,È,É,Ê,Ë,Í,Î,Ï,Ì,Ò,Ó,Ô,Ö,Ú,Ù,Û,Ü,Ÿ,Ç,Æ,Œ,ñ' AS accents,
  'c,ae,oe,a,e,i,o,u,a,e,i,o,u,a,e,i,o,u,y,a,e,i,o,u,a,o,O,A,A,A,A,A,E,E,E,E,I,I,I,I,O,O,O,O,U,U,U,U,Y,C,AE,OE,n' AS latins
),
pairs AS (
  SELECT accent, latin FROM lookups, 
    UNNEST(SPLIT(accents)) AS accent WITH OFFSET AS p1, 
    UNNEST(SPLIT(latins)) AS latin WITH OFFSET AS p2
  WHERE p1 = p2
),
yourTableWithWords AS (
  SELECT word FROM UNNEST(
        SPLIT('brasília,ångström,aperçu,barège, beau idéal, belle époque, béguin, bête noire, bêtise, Bichon Frisé, blasé, blessèd, bobèche, boîte, bombé, Bön, Boötes, boutonnière, bric-à-brac, Brontë Beyoncé,El Niño')
    ) AS word
)
SELECT 
  word AS word_with_accent, 
  (SELECT STRING_AGG(IFNULL(latin, char), '')
    FROM UNNEST(SPLIT(word, '')) char
    LEFT JOIN pairs
    ON char = accent) AS word_without_accent
FROM yourTableWithWords   

Output is

word_with_accent word_without_accent     
blessèd         blessed  
El Niño         El Nino  
belle époque    belle epoque     
boîte           boite    
Boötes          Bootes   
blasé           blase    
ångström        angstrom     
bobèche         bobeche  
barège          barege   
bric-à-brac     bric-a-brac  
bête noire      bete noire   
Bichon Frisé    Bichon Frise     
Brontë Beyoncé  Bronte Beyonce   
bêtise          betise   
beau idéal      beau ideal   
bombé           bombe    
brasília        brasilia     
boutonnière     boutonniere  
aperçu          apercu   
béguin          beguin   
Bön             Bon   

UPDATE

Below is how to pack this logic into SQL UDF - so accent2latin(word) can be called to make a "magic"

#standardSQL
CREATE TEMP FUNCTION accent2latin(word STRING) AS
((
  WITH lookups AS (
    SELECT 
    'ç,æ,œ,á,é,í,ó,ú,à,è,ì,ò,ù,ä,ë,ï,ö,ü,ÿ,â,ê,î,ô,û,å,ø,Ø,Å,Á,À,Â,Ä,È,É,Ê,Ë,Í,Î,Ï,Ì,Ò,Ó,Ô,Ö,Ú,Ù,Û,Ü,Ÿ,Ç,Æ,Œ,ñ' AS accents,
    'c,ae,oe,a,e,i,o,u,a,e,i,o,u,a,e,i,o,u,y,a,e,i,o,u,a,o,O,A,A,A,A,A,E,E,E,E,I,I,I,I,O,O,O,O,U,U,U,U,Y,C,AE,OE,n' AS latins
  ),
  pairs AS (
    SELECT accent, latin FROM lookups, 
      UNNEST(SPLIT(accents)) AS accent WITH OFFSET AS p1, 
      UNNEST(SPLIT(latins)) AS latin WITH OFFSET AS p2
    WHERE p1 = p2
  )
  SELECT STRING_AGG(IFNULL(latin, char), '')
  FROM UNNEST(SPLIT(word, '')) char
  LEFT JOIN pairs
  ON char = accent
));

WITH yourTableWithWords AS (
  SELECT word FROM UNNEST(
        SPLIT('brasília,ångström,aperçu,barège, beau idéal, belle époque, béguin, bête noire, bêtise, Bichon Frisé, blasé, blessèd, bobèche, boîte, bombé, Bön, Boötes, boutonnière, bric-à-brac, Brontë Beyoncé,El Niño')
    ) AS word
)
SELECT 
  word AS word_with_accent, 
  accent2latin(word) AS word_without_accent
FROM yourTableWithWords 

Is there a way to get rid of accents and convert a whole string to regular letters?

Use java.text.Normalizer to handle this for you.

string = Normalizer.normalize(string, Normalizer.Form.NFD);
// or Normalizer.Form.NFKD for a more "compatible" deconstruction 

This will separate all of the accent marks from the characters. Then, you just need to compare each character against being a letter and throw out the ones that aren't.

string = string.replaceAll("[^\\p{ASCII}]", "");

If your text is in unicode, you should use this instead:

string = string.replaceAll("\\p{M}", "");

For unicode, \\P{M} matches the base glyph and \\p{M} (lowercase) matches each accent.

Thanks to GarretWilson for the pointer and regular-expressions.info for the great unicode guide.

Remove accents/diacritics in a string in JavaScript

With ES2015/ES6 String.prototype.normalize(),

const str = "Crème Brulée"
str.normalize("NFD").replace(/[\u0300-\u036f]/g, "")
> "Creme Brulee"

Note: use NFKD if you want things like \uFB01(fi) normalized (to fi).

Two things are happening here:

1. normalize()ing to NFD Unicode normal form decomposes combined graphemes into the combination of simple ones. The è of Crème ends up expressed as e + ̀.
2. Using a regex character class to match the U+0300 → U+036F range, it is now trivial to globally get rid of the diacritics, which the Unicode standard conveniently groups as the Combining Diacritical Marks Unicode block.

As of 2021, one can also use Unicode property escapes:

str.normalize("NFD").replace(/\p{Diacritic}/gu, "")

See comment for performance testing.

Alternatively, if you just want sorting

Intl.Collator has sufficient support ~95% right now, a polyfill is also available here but I haven't tested it.

const c = new Intl.Collator();
["creme brulee", "crème brulée", "crame brulai", "crome brouillé",
"creme brulay", "creme brulfé", "creme bruléa"].sort(c.compare)
["crame brulai", "creme brulay", "creme bruléa", "creme brulee",
"crème brulée", "creme brulfé", "crome brouillé"]


["creme brulee", "crème brulée", "crame brulai", "crome brouillé"].sort((a,b) => a>b)
["crame brulai", "creme brulee", "crome brouillé", "crème brulée"]

How do I remove accents from characters in a PHP string?

I think the problem here is that your encodings consider ä and å different symbols to 'a'. In fact, the PHP documentation for strtr offers a sample for removing accents the ugly way :(

http://ie2.php.net/strtr

How to convert unicode accented characters to pure ascii without accents?

how do i convert all those escape characters into their respective characters like if there is an unicode à, how do i convert that into a standard a?

Assume you have loaded your unicode into a variable called my_unicode... normalizing à into a is this simple...

import unicodedata
output = unicodedata.normalize('NFD', my_unicode).encode('ascii', 'ignore')

Explicit example...

>>> myfoo = u'àà'
>>> myfoo
u'\xe0\xe0'
>>> unicodedata.normalize('NFD', myfoo).encode('ascii', 'ignore')
'aa'
>>>

How it works

unicodedata.normalize('NFD', "insert-unicode-text-here") performs a Canonical Decomposition (NFD) of the unicode text; then we use str.encode('ascii', 'ignore') to transform the NFD mapped characters into ascii (ignoring errors).

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