# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
import re
s = "characters (in this case, they are áéíóöőúüű)."
res = re.sub(ur'\W+', u' ', s.decode('utf8'), flags=re.UNICODE).encode("utf8")
print(res)
IyAtKi0gY29kaW5nOiB1dGYtOCAtKi0KaW1wb3J0IHJlCnMgPSAiY2hhcmFjdGVycyAoaW4gdGhpcyBjYXNlLCB0aGV5IGFyZSDDocOpw63Ds8O2xZHDusO8xbEpLiIKcmVzID0gcmUuc3ViKHVyJ1xXKycsIHUnICcsIHMuZGVjb2RlKCd1dGY4JyksIGZsYWdzPXJlLlVOSUNPREUpLmVuY29kZSgidXRmOCIpCnByaW50KHJlcykK