Ruby Output Unicode Character

Question

I'm not a Ruby dev by trade, but am using Capistrano for PHP deployments. I'm trying to cleanup the output of my script and am trying to add a unicode check mark as discussed in this blog.

The problem is if I do:

checkmark = "\u2713"
puts checkmark

It outputs "\u2713" instead of ✓

I've googled around and I just can't find anywhere that discusses this.

TLDR: How do I puts or print the unicode checkmark U-2713?

EDIT

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I am running Ruby 1.8.7 on my Mac (OSX Lion) so cannot use the encode method. My shell is Bash in iTerm2.

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UPDATE [4/8/2019] Added reference image in case site ever goes down.

Variegation

Answer 1

In Ruby 1.9.x+

Use String#encode:

checkmark = "\u2713"
puts checkmark.encode('utf-8')

prints

✓

In Ruby 1.8.7

puts '\u2713'.gsub(/\\u[\da-f]{4}/i) { |m| [m[-4..-1].to_i(16)].pack('U') }
✓

Smithson

I should have mentioned I have Ruby 1.8.7 and apparently the encode method isn't available until 1.9. How was it done prior to 1.9? – Variegation

@cillosis, I added Ruby 1.8.7 compatible version. You should use '\u2713' or "\\u2713", because "\u2713" == "u2713" in ruby 1.8. – Smithson

Bam! I first tried your solution and it wasn't working. Then went to single quotes and it worked! Thanks :) – Variegation

I was able to simply do something like checkmark = "\u2713".encode('utf-8'); puts checkmark and so the encoding was saved to the variable. This works for me in Ruby 2.2.2. – Smart

@sixty4bit, If you want to notify OP, mention OP or comment on the question. Otherwise, OP will not be notified. – Smithson

checkmark = "\u2663" puts checkmark.encode('utf-8') prints ♣ for me! – Imperium

"\u127968".encode("utf-8") is giving me ቹ68. I was hoping for 🏠. Is there a Ruby way to print the upper ranges of Unicode? – Mispronounce

@Lori, "\u{1f3e0}" ('1f3e0' == 127968.to_s(16)) – Smithson

Answer 2

In newer versions of Ruby, you don't need to enforce encoding. Here is an example with 2.1.2:

2.1.2 :002 > "\u00BD"
 => "½"

Just make sure you use double quotes!

Woodhouse

This comment about making sure to use double-quotes saved me -- I was tearing my hair out trying to figure out why this wasn't working! – Christianism

Answer 3

falsetru's answer is incorrect.

checkmark = "\u2713"
puts checkmark.encode('utf-8')

This transcodes the checkmark from the current system encoding to UTF-8 encoding. (That works only on a system whose default is already UTF-8.)

The correct answer is:

puts checkmark.force_encoding('utf-8')

This modifies the string's encoding, without modifying any character sequence.

Cordiacordial

Answer 4

As an additional note, if you want to print an emoji, you have to surround it with braces.

irb(main):001:0> "\u{1F600}"
=> "😀"

Hypergolic

Nice but doesn't seem to work with string interpolation a=1F600; puts "\u{#{a}}" – Romie

@Romie I found a way to do it: a = '1F600'; puts a.to_i(16).chr('UTF-8'). Outputs 😀. – Delphine

Answer 5

Same goes as above in ERB, no forced encoding required, works perfectly, tested at Ruby 2.3.0

    <%= "\u00BD" %>

Much appreciation

Viosterol

Answer 6

How we can print as is in newer version of ruby

checkmark = "\u2713" puts checkmark

This should print AS IS \u2713

Mathis

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