How to unescape a raw string?

[python at bdurham.com]

How can I unescape a raw string so that it behaves as a non-raw
string?

For example, if I read the string "\n\t A B C\" D E F \xa0
\u1234" from a text file, how can I convert (unescape?) this
string so that \n, \t, \", \x, and \u get converted to a newline,
tab, double quote, hex encoded and unicode encoded chars?

I know I can do this explictly via a series of .replace()
methods, but certainly there must be a built-in way to do this on
a generic basis?

Thank you,
Malcolm
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