iii_to_unicode.php

<?php

/*
Changes III's unicode brackets into encoded unicode characters. 

We have found this more reliable than using the pre-encoded values from the interface. The XRecord will give the bracket output.

This presumes you have your database in unicode in iii. iii can convert your database to unicode for you. call the helpdesk

If you see codes like {231} without the 'u' then you haven't converted or are entering them in old format

Example Input: al-I{u02BB}tir{u0101}f{u0101}t
Example Output: Al-Iʻtirāfāt
*/

$matches = array();
$string = "al-I{u02BB}tir{u0101}f{u0101}t"; // our example string

print "Input: $string\n";

preg_match_all('/\{u[0-9a-fA-F][0-9a-fA-F][0-9a-fA-F][0-9a-fA-F]\}/', $string, $matches); //find all the {} codes

foreach ($matches[0] as $match_string) {
  $code = hexdec($match_string); // convert to decimal
  $character = html_entity_decode("&#$code;", ENT_NOQUOTES, 'UTF-8'); // decode decimal into utf8 char
  $string = str_replace($match_string, $character, $string); // replace the code with the utf8 char
}

print "Output: $string\n";

?>