Convert markdown text to unicode characters where possible

markdown_to_unicode.py

# Licensed under the MIT-0 License. See https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT-0 for details.
import re


def markdown_to_unicode(md_text):
    """
    Converts Markdown text to Unicode by transforming Markdown syntax for
     bold and italic text into their corresponding Unicode characters,
     handling lists and headings, and preserving the formatting within code blocks.

    Parameters
    ----------
    md_text : str
        The input Markdown text to be converted.

    Returns
    -------
    str
        The converted text with Unicode characters.
    """
    # Yes you could be clever and generate the below by checking the codepoint offsets, like ('𝑎' - 'a')
    # But you would soon learn that 'ℎ' is special and there's 5 different offsets and its simpler
    # just to list them out in a map.

    # fmt: off
    bold_map = {
        "0": "𝟬", "1": "𝟭", "2": "𝟮", "3": "𝟯", "4": "𝟰", "5": "𝟱", "6": "𝟲", "7": "𝟳", "8": "𝟴", "9": "𝟵",
        "a": "𝗮", "b": "𝗯", "c": "𝗰", "d": "𝗱", "e": "𝗲", "f": "𝗳", "g": "𝗴", "h": "𝗵", "i": "𝗶", "j": "𝗷", "k": "𝗸", "l": "𝗹", "m": "𝗺", "n": "𝗻", "o": "𝗼", "p": "𝗽", "q": "𝗾", "r": "𝗿", "s": "𝘀", "t": "𝘁", "u": "𝘂", "v": "𝘃", "w": "𝘄", "x": "𝘅", "y": "𝘆", "z": "𝘇",
        "A": "𝗔", "B": "𝗕", "C": "𝗖", "D": "𝗗", "E": "𝗘", "F": "𝗙", "G": "𝗚", "H": "𝗛", "I": "𝗜", "J": "𝗝", "K": "𝗞", "L": "𝗟", "M": "𝗠", "N": "𝗡", "O": "𝗢", "P": "𝗣", "Q": "𝗤", "R": "𝗥", "S": "𝗦", "T": "𝗧", "U": "𝗨", "V": "𝗩", "W": "𝗪", "X": "𝗫", "Y": "𝗬", "Z": "𝗭",
    }

    italic_map = {
        "a": "𝑎", "b": "𝑏", "c": "𝑐", "d": "𝑑", "e": "𝑒", "f": "𝑓", "g": "𝑔", "h": "ℎ", "i": "𝑖", "j": "𝑗", "k": "𝑘", "l": "𝑙", "m": "𝑚", "n": "𝑛", "o": "𝑜", "p": "𝑝", "q": "𝑞", "r": "𝑟", "s": "𝑠", "t": "𝑡", "u": "𝑢", "v": "𝑣", "w": "𝑤", "x": "𝑥", "y": "𝑦", "z": "𝑧",
        "A": "𝐴", "B": "𝐵", "C": "𝐶", "D": "𝐷", "E": "𝐸", "F": "𝐹", "G": "𝐺", "H": "𝐻", "I": "𝐼", "J": "𝐽", "K": "𝐾", "L": "𝐿", "M": "𝑀", "N": "𝑁", "O": "𝑂", "P": "𝑃", "Q": "𝑄", "R": "𝑅", "S": "𝑆", "T": "𝑇", "U": "𝑈", "V": "𝑉", "W": "𝑊", "X": "𝑋", "Y": "𝑌", "Z": "𝑍",
    }
    # fmt: on

    def replace(text, char_map):
        return "".join(char_map.get(c, c) for c in text)

    def handle_styles(text):
        text = re.sub(
            r"\*\*(.*?)\*\*",
            lambda m: replace(m.group(1), bold_map),
            text,
        )
        text = re.sub(
            r"\*(.*?)\*",
            lambda m: replace(m.group(1), italic_map),
            text,
        )
        return text

    lines = md_text.split("\n")
    in_code = False
    for i, line in enumerate(lines):
        if line.startswith("```"):
            in_code = not in_code

        if in_code:
            continue

        if line.startswith(("- ", "* ")):
            line = f"• {line[2:]}"

        if re.match("#{1,6} ", line):
            # Treat all headings the same, but keep the '#'
            line = replace(line, bold_map)
        else:
            line = handle_styles(line)

        lines[i] = line

    return "\n".join(lines)


if __name__ == "__main__":
    markdown_text = """
Normal, **bold** and *italic* text.

# Heading 1
- Bullet point 1
- Bullet point 2 with **bold** and *italics* and **more bold**
* Star-based bullet *with italics* and **bold text** 

```py
# Comment in a code block
x = "A string with *italics* markers that should be ignored"
```

## Now a level 2 heading
And some more text
    """

    print(markdown_to_unicode(markdown_text))

Neat!