Remove unicode from string

Question

I'm trying to remove special character from Arabic String using it's Unicode which I got from this link: https://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/0640/index.htm

This is my code:

TATWEEL = u"\u0640"
text = 'الســلام عليكــم'
text.replace(TATWEEL, '')
print(text)

But I tried it and doesn't work (it prints the same string without removing the character)

This is the special character 'ــ'

enter image description here

I'm using Python3

• Adelin: when you say it doesn't work what do you mean? Did you receive an error or the pc you were using exploded?
• user8393084: No it prints the same text without removing the character.
• DYZ: Possible duplicate of Replacing or substituting in a python string does not work

Answer 1

The replace method of strings does not change the string it is called on; it returns a new string with the specified character replaced.

This code does what you want:

TATWEEL = u"\u0640"
text = 'الســلام عليكــم'
text2 = text.replace(TATWEEL, '')
print(text2)

To get the exact result you expected, use this:

text = text.replace(TATWEEL, '')
print(text)

• skjoshi: @user8393084 If it works for you, please accept it as answer.

Answer 2

If text may contain multiple unicode elements then you should go for regex as below:

import re
TATWEEL = u"\u0640"
text = 'الســلام عليكــم'
unicode_removed_text = re.sub(TATWEEL, '', text)

• Adelin: How is this better than replace?
• Gahan: refer this ink; it's very good explanation on where to use replace() and where re.sub()
• Adelin: First answer says if you can use replace, use it
• Adelin: I still don't understand the rationale from your post "If text may contain multiple unicode elements then you should go for regex"