uniscript

Convert plain strings to Unicode subscript/superscript — no HTML, no LaTeX, no images. Just text.

from uniscript import render

render("t_insp")       # → "tᵢₙₛₚ"
render("E=mc^2")       # → "E=mc²"
render("x^(n+1)")      # → "xⁿ⁺¹"
render(r"x_\beta")     # → "xᵦ"
render(r"\sigma_x")    # → "σₓ"

Works anywhere plain text works: terminals, Slack, Markdown files, Jupyter notebooks, text editors, and Python print().

Installation

pip install uniscript

Or with uv:

uv add uniscript

Usage

render(text) — Auto-parse notation strings

Uses _ for subscript and ^ for superscript, matching standard scientific and mathematical notation:

from uniscript import render

# Subscripts
render("t_insp")     # tᵢₙₛₚ
render("V_O2_max")   # VO₂ₘₐₓ
render("H_2O")       # H₂O
render("CO_2")       # CO₂

# Superscripts & Grouping
render("x^2 + y^2")  # x² + y²
render("x^(n+1)")    # xⁿ⁺¹
render("1^st")       # 1ˢᵗ

Greek Letter Shorthands

render() automatically recognizes LaTeX-style Greek names (\alpha, \beta, \gamma, etc.):

render(r"x_\beta")     # xᵦ
render(r"x^\gamma")    # xᵞ
render(r"\sigma_x")    # σₓ
render(r"\rho_0")      # ρ₀
render(r"E_\gamma^2")  # Eᵧ²

All 48 Greek letters (24 lowercase and 24 uppercase) are supported as shorthands.

Explicit Functions: sub() and sup()

from uniscript import sub, sup

sub("insp")   # ᵢₙₛₚ
sub("0123")   # ₀₁₂₃
sub("(n+1)")  # ₍ₙ₊₁₎
sub("β")      # ᵦ

sup("2")      # ²
sup("n+1")    # ⁿ⁺¹
sup("th")     # ᵗʰ
sup("δ")      # ᵟ

Fallback Behavior

Not every character has a Unicode subscript or superscript equivalent. You can customize the fallback behavior:

from uniscript import sub, FallbackMode

# PASSTHROUGH (default): Leaves unsupported characters untouched
sub("q", fallback=FallbackMode.PASSTHROUGH)  # 'q'

# OMIT: Silently drops unsupported characters
sub("q", fallback=FallbackMode.OMIT)         # ''

# RAISE: Raises SubstitutionError with detailed Unicode code point info
sub("q", fallback=FallbackMode.RAISE)        # raises SubstitutionError

Coverage & Inspection Tools

Check which characters are supported in plain text:

from uniscript import coverage, check

# Get detailed breakdown and percentage
sub_report, sup_report = coverage()
print(sub_report)
# uniscript coverage — subscript
#   Supported  : 32/42 (76%)
#   Unsupported: 10/42
#   ...

# Audit individual characters in an expression
check("t_insp")
# {'t': {'sub': 'ₜ', 'sup': 'ᵗ'}, 'i': {'sub': 'ᵢ', 'sup': 'ⁱ'}, ...}

Command-Line Interface (CLI)

uniscript includes a command-line tool with support for arguments and piped stdin:

# Direct argument parsing
uniscript "t_insp"
# tᵢₙₛₚ

# Piped stdin
echo "E=mc^2" | uniscript
# E=mc²

# Convert entire string to sub/superscript
uniscript --sub "insp"
uniscript --sup "2"

# Inspect character coverage in your terminal
uniscript --coverage
uniscript --coverage --chars lower

Unicode Coverage Summary

Development

See DEVELOPMENT.md for local environment setup, testing, and contribution flow.

License

MIT