Re: How to get rid of Microsoft dumb quotes, e.g. \222 for apostrophe?

[Stefan Monnier]

>   (while (re-search-forward "[€-Ÿ]" nil t)
>     (let ((mschar (buffer-substring-no-properties 
>                    (match-beginning 0) (match-end 0))))
>       (cond 
>        ((string= mschar "‘") (replace-match "`" )) 
>        ((string= mschar "’") (replace-match "'" )) 
>        ((string= mschar "“") (replace-match "``")) 
>        ((string= mschar "”") (replace-match "''")) 
>        ((string= mschar "–") (replace-match "--")))))

Better work on chars rather than strings of one-char.  Also better not use
those special chars that are sometimes displayed as \200 and use the \
2 0 0 escape sequence instead:

   (require 'cl)
   (defun my-fun-foo ()
     (interactive)
     (goto-char (point-min))
     (while (re-search-forward "[\200-\237]" nil t)
       (case (char-before)
        (?\221 (replace-match "`" ))
        (?\222 (replace-match "'" ))
        (?\233 (replace-match "``"))
        (?\224 (replace-match "''"))
        (?\226 (replace-match "--")))))


-- Stefan


PS: Guaranteed 100% untested.