How to Handle Surrogate Pairs in Python Unicodes

In Python, surrogate pairs are used to represent Unicode characters beyond the Basic Multilingual Plane (BMP). These pairs consist of two surrogate code points that are used to encode a single Unicode character.

When working with Python unicode strings that contain surrogate pairs, you may encounter errors related to surrogate encoding. These errors occur because Python handles surrogate pairs differently depending on the context.

Handling Surrogate Pairs

To convert a surrogate pair to a normal string, you have several options:

• Use the json Module:

  • Load the string into a JSON object using json.loads(). The JSON module will automatically handle the conversion from surrogate pairs to Unicode characters.

• Encode and Decode with the encode() Method:

  • Encode the string using a codec that supports surrogate pairs, such as "utf-16" or "utf-16-le".
  • Decode the encoded string using the same codec.

  • Example:

    emoji = "This is \ud83d\ude4f, an emoji."
    encoded = emoji.encode("utf-16")
    decoded = encoded.decode("utf-16")
    print(decoded)  # Output: "This is ?, an emoji."

• Use the surrogatepass Error Handler:

  • If you encounter an error while encoding or decoding, you can use the surrogatepass error handler to ignore the surrogate pair.

  • Example:

    encoded = emoji.encode("utf-16", "surrogatepass")
    decoded = encoded.decode("utf-16")
    print(decoded)  # Output: "?"

Note that the approach you choose will depend on the specific context and the desired output format.