-- set up json array for emojis
local dat = game:HttpGet('https://raw.githubusercontent.com/iamcal/emoji-data/master/emoji.json')
local json = game:getService'HttpService':JSONDecode(dat)

-- set variables for hooking
local mt = getrawmetatable(game)
local oldNameCall = mt.__namecall
local oldFireServer = Instance.new('RemoteEvent').FireServer

-- return the emoji unicode from a string
function parseEmoji(emoji)
    for _,v in next, json do
        if (emoji:lower() == v['short_name']) then
            return utf8.char(tonumber(v['unified'], 16))
        end
    end
end

-- Lua doesn't have string.split
function split(self, sep)
   local sep, fields = sep or ":", {}
   local pattern = string.format("([^%s]+)", sep)
   self:gsub(pattern, function(c) fields[#fields+1] = c end)
   return fields
end

-- detect if :emoji: exists
function detectEmoji(str)
    for i=1, #str do
        if (str:sub(i,i) == ':') then
            local substr = str:sub(i+1, #str)
            local pos = substr:find(':')
            if (pos) then
                return pos
            end
        end
    end
    return nil
end

-- return a new string that formats a string with emojis =D
function parseSemicolon(rawStr)
    local tbl = split(rawStr, " ")
    local newtbl = {}

    for i,token in next, tbl do
        local pos = detectEmoji(token)
        if (pos) then
            token = token:sub(2, pos)
            token = parseEmoji(token)
        end
        newtbl[i] = token
    end

    return table.concat(newtbl, ' ')
end

-- hook SayMessageRequest to parse emojis =D
mt.__namecall = function(...)
    local tbl = {...}
    local key = tbl[#tbl]
    local obj = tbl[1]

    if (key == 'FireServer') then
        if (tostring(obj) == 'SayMessageRequest') then
            -- fireServer(self, message, channel)
            return oldFireServer(tbl[1], parseSemicolon(tbl[2]), tbl[3])
        end
    end
    return oldNameCall(...)