title: Script to convert unicode characters in <U9999> format to their ASCII equivalents
body: <p>Im doing some changes in Linux locale files <code>/usr/share/i18n/locales</code> (like pt_BR), to change the default format of dates, time, numbers, etc. But since unicode chars are presented as strings in the <code>&lt;U9999&gt;</code> format, text is very hard to read.</p>
  
  <p>Here is a snippet of it:</p>
  
  <pre><code>LC_TIME
  abday   "&lt;U0044&gt;&lt;U006F&gt;&lt;U006D&gt;";"&lt;U0053&gt;&lt;U0065&gt;&lt;U0067&gt;";/
      "&lt;U0054&gt;&lt;U0065&gt;&lt;U0072&gt;";"&lt;U0051&gt;&lt;U0075&gt;&lt;U0061&gt;";/
      "&lt;U0051&gt;&lt;U0075&gt;&lt;U0069&gt;";"&lt;U0053&gt;&lt;U0065&gt;&lt;U0078&gt;";/
      "&lt;U0053&gt;&lt;U00E1&gt;&lt;U0062&gt;"
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>So, how to make a simple script (may be bash, python, pearl, whatever) to convert this text replacing the <code>&lt;Uxxxx&gt;</code> codes to their ASCII equivalents? (yes, they are all ASCI chars below 255, most even below 127)</p>
  
  <p>If several answers are received, Ill accept the most elegant and/or the more detailed explained one (like options and flags used in comands)</p>
  
  <p>As an example, the above text would be converted to:</p>
  
  <pre><code>LC_TIME
  abday   "Dom";"Seg";/
      "Ter";"Qua";/
      "Qui";"Sex";/
      "Sáb"
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Bonus points for another script that could do the opposite: convert all chars of a given string to <code>&lt;Uxxx&gt;</code> format.</p>
  
  <p>Thanks!</p>