Replacing values with non-English characters in attribute table field using ArcGIS field calculator and python parser?

Question

I'm new to python and trying to write a python script using the field calculator in ArcMap for a specific field in an attribute table that will calculate and place the values in the other field. My Pre-logic Script Code:

---

def calcVal(inVal):
    values = {
"BABBBBBBBB":1,
"CCCCCCCCCC":2,
"DDDDDDDDDD":3,
“EEEEEEEEEEE”:4,
etc...}
    if inVal in values.keys():
        return values[inVal]
    else:
        pass

---

Character “A” in 1st condition ("BABBBBBBBB":1) is non english character. Field calculator does not recognize this text value. Coding is UTF8.

Is a special symbols in python with who I can substitute this non-english character, like % or *?

Or, it is possible to configure this code to recognize UTF8 coding?

Answer 1

For how to deal with non-ASCII characters in python, have a look at string encoding. Frankly, this is a pain in the rear in python 2, made much easier in python 3. You can mitigate this somewhat by using unicode literals.

Notice, however, that to save a non-ASCII character to any column in a table, that layer will need to be set to whichever encoding you're using.