From: "Peña, Botp" <botp@...>
Date: 2008-09-08T11:54:19+09:00
Subject: Re: convert ascii codes in a string to a string of characters

From: smitty [mailto:cleesmith2006@gmail.com] 
# Is there a more efficient way to convert a string such as
# "&#97;&#98;&#99;&#100;&#101;&#102;" to "abcdef" ?
# 
# Currently I am doing the following:
# a="&#97;&#98;&#99;&#100;&#101;&#102;"
# a.delete!("&#")
# ar = a.split(';')
# arn = ar.collect { |s| Integer(s) }
# s = arn.pack("U*")
# puts "s=#{s.inspect}"

i'm feeling good today ;)

> "&#97;&#98;&#99;&#100;&#101;&#102;".delete("&#").split(";").map{|x| x.to_i}.pack("U*")
=> "abcdef"

or

> "&#97;&#98;&#99;&#100;&#101;&#102;".gsub(/\&\#(\d+);/){|x| $1.to_i.chr}
=> "abcdef"

> require 'cgi'
=> false
> CGI.unescapeHTML "&#97;&#98;&#99;&#100;&#101;&#102;"
=> "abcdef"

kind regards -botp