Replace curly quotes and other ugly MS Word conversions

gistfile1.rb

# thanks to http://www.andornot.com/blog/post/Replace-MS-Word-special-characters-in-javascript-and-C.aspx

class UglyCharGsubber
  
  # To replace characters in a string and return the substitution string
  def self.replace(text)
    text.
      gsub(/[\u2018|\u2019|\u201A]/, "\'").
      gsub(/[\u201C|\u201D|\u201E]/, "\"").
      gsub(/\u2026/, "...").
      gsub(/[\u2013|\u2014]/, "-").
      gsub(/\u02C6/, "^").
      gsub(/\u2039/, "<").
      gsub(/\u203A/, ">").
      gsub(/[\u02DC|\u00A0]/, " ")
  end
  
  # To modify a file in place using method above
  def self.purify(file)
    replace(File.read(file)).tap do |o|
      File.open(file, 'w') { |f| f.write o }
    end
    "Purified your file: #{file}"
  end

end