Convert accented Unicode characters to non-accented in Python

A guide on how to convert accented Unicode characters in the Vietnamese alphabet to non-accented letters using Python. This Python code efficiently handles Vietnamese text processing.

import unicodedata

def remove_accents(text):
    # Normalize the string to Unicode NFKD form
    normalized_text = unicodedata.normalize('NFKD', text)
    
    # Remove combining characters (accents) and keep the base letters
    return ''.join(c for c in normalized_text if not unicodedata.combining(c))

# Example usage
text = "Đây là ví dụ về chữ cái có dấu: ắ, à, ê, ơ, đ."
no_accent_text = remove_accents(text)
print(no_accent_text)

Detailed explanation:

1. Import unicodedata library:

   • This library allows us to work with Unicode characters and normalize strings.

2. remove_accents function:

   • The text is normalized to Unicode NFKD form using unicodedata.normalize, which breaks accented characters into their base letters and diacritic marks.
   • The function then iterates over the characters and removes the combining characters (accents), leaving only the base letters.

3. Function usage:

   • When passing a string with accented characters, the function returns the equivalent string without accents.

4. Example:

   • The string "Đây là ví dụ về chữ cái có dấu: ắ, à, ê, ơ, đ." is converted to "Day la vi du ve chu cai co dau: a, a, e, o, d.".

Python Version:

This code works with Python versions 3.0 and above, as all the libraries and methods used are supported in these versions.