Type Unicode code points into Python CLI

Question

Consider that Python will all one to type the name 'Jânis' into the Python CLI, if it is known that the 'â' character is hex "E2" in CP-1252:

>>> 'J\xe2nis'
'Jânis'

How might one type that name into the Python CLI if the Unicode code point is known, but not the CP-1252 point? In fact, the code point in question isU+00E2. Also, the UTF-8 encoded character is %C3 %A2, is there any way to type that into the Python CLI if only that is known?

I am using Python 3.2 on Kubuntu Linux 12.10.

Answer 1

Use unicode escape sequence (\unnnn):

>>> 'J\u00e2nis'
'Jânis'

If you know utf-8, use bytes.decode (utf-8 is default encoding in Python 3.x, so it is optional):

>>> b'J\xc3\xa2nis'.decode('utf-8')
'Jânis'

If you have %C3%A2, use urllib.parse.unquote:

>>> import urllib.parse
>>> urllib.parse.unquote('J%c3%a2nis', encoding='utf-8')
'Jânis'