[ILUG] converting strings of hex to ascii

[Padraig Brady]

Padraig Brady wrote:
> Paul Jakma wrote:
> 
>> can anyone think of an easy way to convert strings that describe ASCII 
>> chars in hex to plain ASCII?
>>
>> eg given
>>     http://w%77%77%2Eo%70%74%6F%72%69um.n%65t/remove.html
>>
>> is there an easy way to turn it into
>>
>>     http://www.optorium.net/remove.html
>>
>> ?
>>
>> eg, whether by piping through some already available tool, or 
>> programmatically (printf? - but i dont see how.).
>>
>> want to avoid ascii lookup tables..
>>
>> regards,
> 
> 
> [padraig at pixelbeat padraig]$ 
> enc="http://w%77%77%2Eo%70%74%6F%72%69um.n%65t/remove.html"
> [padraig at pixelbeat padraig]$ echo -e "`echo "$enc" | sed 
> 's/%\([0-9]*\)/\\\x\1/g'`"

Actually the following would be in some way sensible:
echo -e "`echo "$enc" | sed 's/%\([0-9a-fA-F]\{2,2\}\)/\\\x\1/g'`"

Padraig.