unicode combined class for better character counting and indexing

unicode_combined.py

#!/usr/bin/env python3

import unicodedata

test_strings = [
    "בְּרֵאשִׁית, בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים, אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם, וְאֵת הָאָרֶץ",
    "bête",
]

class unicomb(str):
    def __init__(self, unistr):
        self._real_rep = [char for char in unistr if unicodedata.combining(char) == 0]

    def __len__(self):
        return len(self._real_rep)

    def __getitem__(self, idx):
        return self._real_rep[idx]

    def __setitem__(self, idx, val):
        self._real_rep[idx] = val

    def __str__(self):
        return str(''.join(self._real_rep))

    def __repr__(self):
        return repr(''.join(self._real_rep))

for s in test_strings:
    print("full string: '{}'".format(s))

    print("string length: {}".format(len(s)))
    print("real length:   {}".format(len(unicomb(s))))

    print("3rd character: '{}'".format(s[2]))
    print("3rd real char: '{}'".format(unicomb(s)[2]))

    u = unicomb(s)
    u[0] = '*'
    u[-1] = '*'

    print("Change 1st and last chars: {}".format(u))