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I am importing data

data={"t*α₁","α₁*α₄"}

But unfortunately, all of the subscripts are in Unicode:

FullForm[data]
List["t*α\:2081","α\:2081*α\:2084"]

i.e. subscript 1 is encoded as \:2081 etc. Is there a way of converting these Unicode subscripts into Mathematica's more standard subscripts

desiredoutput={t Subscript[α, 1], Subscript[α, 1] Subscript[α, 4]}

Manipulating the data is difficult with the current Unicode formatting of the subscripts.

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    $\begingroup$ How many different variations do you have of those subscripts? If there aren't very many, then constructing replacement rules "by hand" could be the easiest way: ToExpression[data] /. \[Alpha]₁ -> Subscript[\[Alpha], 1] and similar others. $\endgroup$
    – MarcoB
    Commented Jan 22 at 17:21

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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Here is a code that works for subscript numerals, even if they represent a multi-digit number. You can modify the code to include also other subscript characters.

subscriptNumerals = CharacterRange["₀", "₉"];
convertSubscripts[str_String] := ToExpression[str] /. 
  (sym_Symbol /; StringContainsQ[SymbolName[sym], subscriptNumerals]) :> 
   First@StringReplace[SymbolName[sym], (x : Except[subscriptNumerals]) ~~ 
    (i : subscriptNumerals ..) :> 
   Subscript[x, FromDigits[(First@*ToCharacterCode /@ Characters[i]) - 8320]]]

convertSubscripts["α₂ + t β₁₄ z + 3γ₁₇₈"]
(* Subscript["α", 2] + t z Subscript["β", 14] + 3 Subscript["γ", 178] *)
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  • $\begingroup$ Works perfectly. Just needed to modify the first line from "₁" to "₀" for the argument of CharacterRange to handle subscript 10 etc. Thanks! $\endgroup$
    – Luke
    Commented Jan 22 at 17:55
  • $\begingroup$ Oh, right, of course :) Forgot about the zero ... $\endgroup$
    – Domen
    Commented Jan 22 at 17:59

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