title: How to replace unicode characters by ascii characters in Python (perl script given)?
body: <p>I am trying to learn python and couldn't figure out how to translate the following perl script to python:</p>
  
  <pre><code>#!/usr/bin/perl -w                     
  
  use open qw(:std :utf8);
  
  while(&lt;&gt;) {
    s/\x{00E4}/ae/;
    s/\x{00F6}/oe/;
    s/\x{00FC}/ue/;
    print;
  }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>The script just changes unicode umlauts to alternative ascii output. (So the complete output is in ascii.) I would be grateful for any hints. Thanks! </p>