Hanzi Identifier

Common errors

• ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'hanzidentifier'

  cause The `hanzidentifier` library has not been installed in your current Python environment.
  fix Run `pip install hanzidentifier` in your terminal to install the package.

• My code expects `hanzidentifier.is_simplified()` to return `True` for a simplified text, but it returns `False` even though the text looks simplified.

  cause This often occurs when the string contains characters that are common to both Simplified and Traditional Chinese, leading `identify()` to return `hanzidentifier.BOTH`. `is_simplified()` strictly checks if *all* Chinese characters can be categorized as Simplified *or* are common to both, but if there's any character exclusively Traditional or if the string is just 'BOTH' without other exclusively simplified, it might not return True.
  fix Check the output of `hanzidentifier.identify()` first. If it returns `hanzidentifier.BOTH`, it means the characters are valid in both Simplified and Traditional contexts. Consider what your desired outcome is for such cases.

• hanzidentifier.identify('Some English text with 你好') returns `hanzidentifier.UNKNOWN`, even though there are Chinese characters.

  cause The `identify()` function returns `UNKNOWN` when it cannot determine the character system (Simplified, Traditional, Mixed, or Both) from the Chinese characters present. This might happen if the string primarily contains non-Chinese characters, or the Chinese characters found are too ambiguous in isolation.
  fix Use `hanzidentifier.has_chinese()` to confirm the presence of any Chinese characters. `identify()` focuses on categorizing the *type* of Chinese characters, not merely their existence. If a string has few identifiable Chinese characters amidst many non-Chinese, the identification might default to `UNKNOWN`.

Warnings

• breaking Version 1.0 (released 2014-04-12) introduced breaking changes, including renaming some constants. Code written for versions prior to 1.0 will likely fail.
  Fix: Refer to the CHANGES.rst file in the GitHub repository for detailed migration steps if upgrading from pre-1.0 versions. Re-evaluate constant names used in your code.
• gotcha The `identify()` function may return `hanzidentifier.BOTH` for strings containing characters that are valid in both Simplified and Traditional Chinese character sets. This means `is_simplified()` or `is_traditional()` might return `False` if the string isn't *exclusively* of that type, even if it contains characters compatible with it.
  Fix: Understand that `BOTH` signifies compatibility with both systems. If you need to confirm if a string *can* be interpreted as Simplified or Traditional, consider if `identify() in (hanzidentifier.SIMPLIFIED, hanzidentifier.BOTH, hanzidentifier.MIXED)` (for Simplified) or similar logic for Traditional, fits your use case.
• gotcha hanzidentifier is designed to identify Chinese characters. While many Japanese Kanji and Korean Hanja share ideographs with Chinese, this library does not distinguish between these languages. It will identify shared characters as Chinese.
  Fix: If differentiating between Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and Korean Hanja is critical, combine `hanzidentifier` with other language detection libraries or specific CJK character set checkers.

Install

• pip install hanzidentifier Install stable version

Imports

• hanzidentifier

  import hanzidentifier

• identify

  from hanzidentifier import identify

  Often used directly, but can also be accessed via hanzidentifier.identify.
• is_simplified

  from hanzidentifier import is_simplified

• is_traditional

  from hanzidentifier import is_traditional

• has_chinese

  from hanzidentifier import has_chinese

Quickstart

This quickstart demonstrates the core functionality of `hanzidentifier` including checking for Chinese characters, identifying a string's type (Simplified, Traditional, Both, Mixed, Unknown), and using the helper functions `is_simplified` and `is_traditional`.

import hanzidentifier

# Basic identification
print(f"'你好！' identifies as: {hanzidentifier.identify('你好！')}")
print(f"'你好！' is Simplified: {hanzidentifier.is_simplified('你好！')}")
print(f"'你好！' is Traditional: {hanzidentifier.is_traditional('你好！')}")

# Example with strictly Simplified Chinese
print(f"'软件' identifies as: {hanzidentifier.identify('软件')}")
print(f"'软件' is Simplified: {hanzidentifier.is_simplified('软件')}")

# Example with strictly Traditional Chinese
print(f"'軟體' identifies as: {hanzidentifier.identify('軟體')}")
print(f"'軟體' is Traditional: {hanzidentifier.is_traditional('軟體')}")

# Example with mixed characters
print(f"'国家和國家' identifies as: {hanzidentifier.identify('国家和國家')}")

# Example with no Chinese characters
print(f"'Hello World' has Chinese: {hanzidentifier.has_chinese('Hello World')}")
print(f"'Hello World' identifies as: {hanzidentifier.identify('Hello World')}")