java - Removing all fraction symbols like “¼” and “½” from a string

Question

I need to modify strings similar to "? cups of sugar" to "cups of sugar", meaning replacing all fraction symbols with "".

I have referred to this post and managed to remove ? using this line:

itemName = itemName.replaceAll("u00BC", "");

but how do I replace every possible fraction symbol out there?

Answer 1

Fraction symbols like ? and ? belong to Unicode Category Number, Other [No]. If you are ok with eliminating all 676 characters in that group, you can use the following regular expression:

itemName = itemName.replaceAll("\p{No}+", "");

If not, you can always list them explicitly:

// As characters (requires UTF-8 source file encoding)
itemName = itemName.replaceAll("[???????????????????]+", "");

// As ranges using unicode escapes
itemName = itemName.replaceAll("[u00BC-u00BEu2150-u215Eu2189]+", "");