title: How can I map unicode symbols to a simpler latin script equivalent in Java
body: <p>I want to map graphical/symbol characters to a simpler Java alternative where possible, for example:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>U1E36 latin capital letter l with dot below -> L </li>
  <li>U25B6 Black Right-Pointing Triangle -> > </li>
  <li>U25C0 Black Left-Pointing Triangle -> &lt;</li>
  <li>U25B2 Black UP-Pointing Triangle -> ^</li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>My problem is I don't know what all the characters are so although it is technically easy enough to map the specific characters above it is difficult to do for every one, there could be hundreds.</p>
  
  <p>I already have this code for <strong>removing</strong> accents ecetera</p>
  
  <pre><code>public static final Pattern DIACRITICS_AND_FRIENDS
          = Pattern.compile("[\\p{InCombiningDiacriticalMarks}\\p{IsLm}\\p{IsSk}]+");
  
  
  private static String stripDiacritics(String str) {
      str = Normalizer.normalize(str, Normalizer.Form.NFD);
      str = DIACRITICS_AND_FRIENDS.matcher(str).replaceAll("");
      return str;
  }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>So I was wondering if there was something similar to help me with these symbol characters, note I don't want to ever remove them just replace with a simpler representation.</p>