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How can I convert a string containing an escaped unicode character to a character?

(string-to-char "\\u03C0") evaluates to 92 which is the character value of the first \ in the string. I somehow need to modify the string so I can call (string-to-char "\u03C0") and get 960. (substring "\\u03C0" 1) evaluates to "u03c0" which isn't quite right either!

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2 Answers 2

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Extract the part after \u with substring, and convert it to a number using base 16:

ELISP> (string-to-number (substring "\\u03C0" 2) 16)
960 (#o1700, #x3c0, ?π)
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14 characters shorter than legoscia's suggestion :)

(read (format "?%s" "\\u03C0"))
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    (read (format "?%s" "\\u03C0")) actually seems to be enough!
    – expez
    Mar 24, 2015 at 13:06
  • Oh, yes, numbers are self-evaluating, so no need to eval it :)
    – wvxvw
    Mar 24, 2015 at 13:12

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