[tlug] emacs conversion of HTML Entities

[David Riggs <dariggs@example.com>]

Is there a way to convert HTML entity representation of non-ascii 
characters into the emacs buffer code ( that is a visible letter) with an 
emacs Repace regex?

For example, the Japanese long o ( macro over o) is #&333; which is octal 
5162 in emacs buffer, and you can get it with an input method. But I want 
to take the entity expression (which can be displayed by a browser but is a 
drag to have in your text), and a regex to grab just the 333, and use that 
to somehow input the "real" visible o with macron. I do not see how to get 
that 333 converted to something emacs understands and I do not understand 
the coding systax to replace it in the buffer.

I have used Perl to do this, it works fine. But I keep thinking there must 
be a way to just do it in emacs directly instead of having to fire up Perl.

Any suggestions much appreciated,

David

Kyoto, Nichibunken