Invisible Character Detector and Remover
Reveal hidden characters in text, such as zero-width spaces and direction marks, and remove the ones you choose.
How to use it
- Paste the text into the box.
- Read how many hidden characters there are and where they sit in the text.
- Choose the kinds you want removed.
- Press “Copy the cleaned text”.
Examples
- Zero-width space inside a wordpass + ZWSP + word password
- Direction mark between two lettersA + RLM + B AB
- No-break space, when you choose to convert it10 + NBSP + kg 10 kg
Tool details and privacy
A free tool that reveals hidden characters in text, such as zero-width spaces, text direction marks and special spaces. It shows where each one is, then removes the ones you choose.
These characters cannot be seen, yet they make two texts that look identical differ in search and comparison, reorder the words on a line, and break copied passwords and links.
Options
- Remove zero-width characters: ZWSP, BOM, WJ and similar.
- Remove text direction marks: LRM, RLM and the embedding and isolate marks.
- Remove soft hyphens (SHY).
- Turn special spaces into ordinary spaces: no-break (NBSP), thin and wide spaces and blank filler letters. A line separator becomes a new line.
- Remove the joiners ZWJ and ZWNJ. This option starts off, because Persian and combined emoji need them.
Limits
- Up to 20,000 characters at a time.
- It recognises a set list of common hidden characters, not every Unicode character.
- The position is the character’s place in the text, counting from 1.
- The character list shows the first 100; the cleaned text covers all of them.
Privacy
The text is inspected inside your browser. It is not sent to any server and is not stored.
Questions
What are invisible characters in text?
They are Unicode characters that draw nothing on screen, such as the zero-width space (ZWSP) and the direction marks RLM and LRM. They usually arrive when copying from websites, PDF files and messaging apps.
How do I remove a zero-width space?
Paste the text, leave “Remove zero-width characters” ticked, then copy the cleaned text.
Why are words or brackets out of order in mixed Arabic and English text?
The text may contain hidden direction marks that force a certain order. The tool shows them by name, and you can remove them to see the text in its natural direction.
Is it always safe to remove these characters?
Most are unwanted, but some are deliberate: the non-joiner ZWNJ is required in Persian, and the joiner ZWJ builds some emoji. That is why both stay until you choose to remove them.