# Comparing utf-8 strings by transliterating them

**URL:** <https://discourse.elm-lang.org/t/comparing-utf-8-strings-by-transliterating-them/7982>\
**Category:** Learn\
**Created:** [December 10, 2021, 7:29am UTC](https://discourse.elm-lang.org/t/comparing-utf-8-strings-by-transliterating-them/7982 "2021-12-10T07:29:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![leirda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@leirda](https://discourse.elm-lang.org/u/leirda)\
**Post date:** [December 10, 2021, 7:29am UTC](https://discourse.elm-lang.org/t/comparing-utf-8-strings-by-transliterating-them/7982/1 "2021-12-10T07:29:45Z")

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Hello,

I wish to build a fuzzy searcher that should allow using accents and other special characters in its search string.

So, for example if I have a string like

```elm
"Dès Noël, où un zéphyr haï me vêt de glaçons würmiens, je dîne d’exquis rôtis de bœuf au kir, à l’aÿ d’âge mûr, &cætera"

```

I’d like it to be converted to

```elm
"Des Noel, ou un zephyr hai me vet de glacons wurmiens, je dine d'exquis rotis de boeuf au kir, a l'ay d'age mur, &caetera"

```

There is a lot of edge case that I can’t think about beforehead (`’` → `'`, `ÿ` → `y`, etc) and even some of them need to be translated to many characters (`æ` → `ae`)!

So my question is, is there a way to not do this conversion manually in Elm? Is there some standard utility that I missed? Some third-party libraries? Should I use ports in JS (I’d rather not at this point)?

Thank you for your time and your answers 😀

---

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**Author:** ![francescortiz](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/discourse.elm-lang.org/francescortiz/32/1721_2.png) [@francescortiz](https://discourse.elm-lang.org/u/francescortiz)\
**Post date:** [December 10, 2021, 10:16am UTC](https://discourse.elm-lang.org/t/comparing-utf-8-strings-by-transliterating-them/7982/2 "2021-12-10T10:16:48Z")

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You can give a try to [String.Normalize - elm-string-normalize 1.0.2](https://package.elm-lang.org/packages/kuon/elm-string-normalize/latest/String-Normalize#removeDiacritics).

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**Author:** ![francescortiz](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/discourse.elm-lang.org/francescortiz/32/1721_2.png) [@francescortiz](https://discourse.elm-lang.org/u/francescortiz)\
**Post date:** [December 10, 2021, 10:22am UTC](https://discourse.elm-lang.org/t/comparing-utf-8-strings-by-transliterating-them/7982/3 "2021-12-10T10:22:31Z")

</div>

I found 2 additional alternatives:  
[https://package.elm-lang.org/packages/Fresheyeball/deburr/latest/](https://package.elm-lang.org/packages/Fresheyeball/deburr/latest/)  
[https://package.elm-lang.org/packages/elm-community/string-extra/latest/String-Extra#removeAccents](https://package.elm-lang.org/packages/elm-community/string-extra/latest/String-Extra#removeAccents)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![leirda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@leirda](https://discourse.elm-lang.org/u/leirda)\
**Post date:** [December 10, 2021, 10:23am UTC](https://discourse.elm-lang.org/t/comparing-utf-8-strings-by-transliterating-them/7982/4 "2021-12-10T10:23:20Z")

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Wow! Thank you, this is exactly what I am looking for!

I think “normalize” is the keyword that I should’ve tried searching before asking this, but I didn’t thought about it 😅

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![leirda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@leirda](https://discourse.elm-lang.org/u/leirda)\
**Post date:** [December 10, 2021, 10:33am UTC](https://discourse.elm-lang.org/t/comparing-utf-8-strings-by-transliterating-them/7982/5 "2021-12-10T10:33:19Z")

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For the record, here’s the output of each of these library given my example string:

**TLDR:**

- `deburr` and `elm-string-normalize` have the exact same behavior on this given input
- `string-extra` fails to parse `œ` and somewhat succeed on `æ` by giving a `a`
- none of these are able to do `’` → `'` but it’s okay I guess
- I have no clue about the performance implications of each of these solutions

```auto
> import String.Deburr as String -- Fresheyeball/deburr (provides deburr)
> import String.Normalize as String -- kuon/elm-string-normalize (provides removeDiacritics)
> import String.Extra as String -- elm-community/string-extra (provides removeAccents)
> sample = "Dès Noël, où un zéphyr haï me vêt de glaçons würmiens, je dîne d’exquis rôtis de bœuf au kir, à l’aÿ d’âge mûr, &cætera"
"Dès Noël, où un zéphyr haï me vêt de glaçons würmiens, je dîne d’exquis rôtis de bœuf au kir, à l’aÿ d’âge mûr, &cætera"
    : String
> String.deburr sample
"Des Noel, ou un zephyr hai me vet de glacons wurmiens, je dine d’exquis rotis de boeuf au kir, a l’ay d’age mur, &caetera"
    : String
> String.removeDiacritics sample
"Des Noel, ou un zephyr hai me vet de glacons wurmiens, je dine d’exquis rotis de boeuf au kir, a l’ay d’age mur, &caetera"
    : String
> String.removeAccents sample
"Des Noel, ou un zephyr hai me vet de glacons wurmiens, je dine d’exquis rotis de bœuf au kir, a l’ay d’age mur, &catera"
    : String

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/uploads/elm_lang/original/1X/50a05e53677a2c3b47776d7abd0f113eb50193a1.png) [@system](https://discourse.elm-lang.org/u/system)\
**Post date:** [December 20, 2021, 10:33am UTC](https://discourse.elm-lang.org/t/comparing-utf-8-strings-by-transliterating-them/7982/6 "2021-12-20T10:33:38Z")

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Closed on December 20, 2021, 10:33am UTC

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