Python Program to Determine the Unicode Code Point at a given index

A Unicode code point is a unique number that represents a character in the Unicode standard. Unicode supports over 130,000 characters including letters, symbols, and emojis. Python provides several methods to determine the Unicode code point at a specific index: ord() function, codecs module, unicodedata module, and array module.

What is a Unicode Code Point?

Every Unicode character has a unique numeric identifier called a code point. Code points are represented in hexadecimal notation with a "U+" prefix followed by a four or more digit hexadecimal number (e.g., U+0065 for 'e').

Method 1: Using ord() Function

The ord() function is the simplest way to get the Unicode code point of a character at a given index ?

Syntax

code_point = ord(string[index])

Example

def get_unicode_code_point(string, index):
    char = string[index]
    code_point = ord(char)
    return code_point

# Test the function
string = "Hello, World!"
index = 1
code_point = get_unicode_code_point(string, index)
print(f"Character '{string[index]}' at index {index} has Unicode code point U+{code_point:04X}")

Character 'e' at index 1 has Unicode code point U+0065

Method 2: Using codecs Module

The codecs module provides encoding/decoding functionality that can help extract Unicode code points ?

Example

import codecs

string = "Hello, World!"
index = 1
char = string[index]

# Get the code point using ord() (most straightforward with codecs)
code_point = ord(char)
print(f"Character '{char}' at index {index} has Unicode code point U+{code_point:04X}")

# Alternative: Using UTF-8 encoding
byte_string = char.encode('utf-8')
print(f"UTF-8 bytes: {byte_string}")

Character 'e' at index 1 has Unicode code point U+0065
UTF-8 bytes: b'e'

Method 3: Using unicodedata Module

The unicodedata module provides additional Unicode character information ?

Example

import unicodedata

string = "Hello, World! ?"
index = 14  # Star emoji

char = string[index]
code_point = ord(char)

try:
    name = unicodedata.name(char)
    print(f"Character '{char}' at index {index}")
    print(f"Unicode code point: U+{code_point:04X}")
    print(f"Character name: {name}")
except ValueError:
    print(f"Character '{char}' has no Unicode name")

Character '?' at index 14
Unicode code point: U+1F31F
Character name: GLOWING STAR

Method 4: Using array Module

The array module can store Unicode code points efficiently for multiple characters ?

Example

import array

string = "Hello, World!"
index = 1

# Create array of Unicode code points for all characters
code_points = array.array('I', [ord(char) for char in string])
code_point = code_points[index]

print(f"Character '{string[index]}' at index {index} has Unicode code point U+{code_point:04X}")
print(f"All code points: {[f'U+{cp:04X}' for cp in code_points[:5]]}...")

Character 'e' at index 1 has Unicode code point U+0065
All code points: ['U+0048', 'U+0065', 'U+006C', 'U+006C', 'U+006F']...

Comparison

Conclusion

The ord() function is the most direct method to get Unicode code points at a given index. Use unicodedata for character names and properties, and array module for processing multiple characters efficiently.