Detect invisible Unicode characters
Paste any string in the textarea above. The detector scans every character, classifies it, and lists the position, code point, and Unicode name for anything that is invisible, zero-width, control-only, or otherwise unexpected. Smart punctuation such as curly quotes and em dashes is reported separately so you can decide whether to keep them.
What this tool can find
Zero-width characters
Zero-width characters take no horizontal space. They are common in invisible username tricks, AI output, and copied web pages. The detector finds U+200B, U+200C, U+200D, U+2060, and U+FEFF.
Non-breaking and Unicode spaces
Non-breaking spaces (U+00A0) and the wide Unicode space block (U+2000–U+200A, U+202F, U+205F, U+3000) look similar to a normal space but behave differently. They often slip into copied text from word processors and PDFs.
Direction marks
Right-to-left and left-to-right marks (U+200E, U+200F) plus the embedding and isolate controls (U+202A–U+202E, U+2066–U+2069) can flip parts of your text in confusing ways. The detector flags every one of them.
Control characters
Most control characters in the C0 range (under U+0020) are not meant to appear in normal text. The detector lists every occurrence so you can clean up logs, CSV files, or pasted shell output.
Smart punctuation
Curly quotes, em dashes, and ellipses are not invisible, but they often break code, URLs, and CSV files. The detector calls them out so you can decide whether to keep them or normalize them.
Why hidden characters cause problems
Code and config files
A zero-width space inside a JSON key, a YAML indent, or a SQL query is invisible in most editors but breaks parsers. Hidden direction marks can flip variable names in code reviews. Detecting and removing them avoids hours of debugging.
CSV and spreadsheets
Spreadsheets often pick up non-breaking spaces and curly quotes from copy-paste. They make exact-match lookups fail and inflate cell values. The detector reveals each occurrence so you can clean the file before importing.
URLs and search
A zero-width space hiding in a URL prevents redirects and search engines from indexing the link. Text generated by AI tools is a frequent source of these characters.
AI-generated text and copied documents
LLM output and PDFs often contain unusual spaces, smart quotes, and control characters. Run pasted snippets through the detector before publishing them.
How to remove hidden characters safely
Toggle the categories you want to remove, then copy the cleaned text. The default selection removes zero-width characters, direction marks, and control characters because they are almost always unwanted. Non-breaking spaces and smart punctuation are kept by default because they sometimes carry meaning in formatted writing.
Privacy: everything happens in your browser
The detector loads zero external scripts when you paste, classifies each character locally, and never uploads the input. You can disconnect from the network after the page has loaded and the tool keeps working.