~/devtools / unicode
tool::unicode

Unicode
Converter

Bidirectional conversion between text and \uXXXX unicode escape sequences. Supports Java .properties native2ascii format.

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// Unicode Escapes
The \uXXXX format represents a Unicode code point as 4 hexadecimal digits. Java .properties files store non-ASCII characters in this format.
Text
0 chars
Unicode Escapes
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// about this tool

What is a Unicode Converter?

Unicode is a universal character encoding standard that assigns a unique code point to every character in every language. Each character can be represented as a \uXXXX escape sequence using four hexadecimal digits.

Java's .properties files cannot store non-ASCII characters directly. The native2ascii tool converts characters like Korean or Chinese into \uXXXX escape sequences. This tool replicates that conversion in the browser instantly.

Three modes are supported: 'Encode All' converts every character to \u format, 'Non-ASCII Only' converts characters outside the ASCII range (above 127), and 'Java Properties' mode matches the exact behavior of native2ascii.

Use Cases
  • ▸Convert Korean messages in Java .properties files to native2ascii format
  • ▸Interpret and debug \uXXXX escape sequences in source code
  • ▸Look up Unicode code points of emoji or special characters
  • ▸Prepare or verify i18n resource files for Java applications
  • ▸Understand Unicode escape sequences in regular expressions
FAQ
Q. What is the difference between \u and U+?
U+XXXX is the Unicode standard notation for a code point. \uXXXX is the escape syntax used in programming languages like Java, JavaScript, and C# to represent a Unicode character in source code.
Q. Why can't some emoji be represented with a single \uXXXX?
Most emoji are in the Supplementary Planes (above U+FFFF). In UTF-16, these require a surrogate pair — two \u escapes in the range \uD800–\uDFFF. A single 4-digit \u cannot represent them.
Q. What is the difference between Java Properties mode and Non-ASCII mode?
Non-ASCII mode converts all characters above code point 127. Java Properties mode matches native2ascii exactly, converting characters above Latin-1 range (code point 256 and above) to \uXXXX.
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