Invisible Character Detector
Reveal hidden Unicode characters and optionally remove emoji. It runs directly in your browser.
Local processingProcessed locally in your browser
Visible preview
Character details
Paste text to inspect its Unicode structure.
Cleanup
Good for
Find zero-width characters, directional controls, unusual spaces, emoji and mixed look-alike scripts in copied text.
Limits
This reports Unicode structure, not authorship, intent, malware or AI-generated text. Joiners and variation selectors are otherwise preserved, but are removed with their emoji cluster when emoji removal is enabled.
Find invisible characters in copied text
Two strings can look identical but contain different characters. Use this Unicode checker when copied text will not match, a name has unexpected spacing, or text changes direction. It flags characters to review; it does not decide which characters an application allows.
How to use
- Paste text into the input, or use the example button to try a built-in sample.
- Read the visible preview and findings. Hidden characters appear as code points such as U+200B; the findings also show their names and UTF-8 bytes.
- Choose the cleanup options, review the cleaned result, then copy it. Keep a copy of the original when spacing or writing direction matters.
Common questions
What is the difference between a zero-width space and a non-breaking space?
U+200B has no visible width. U+00A0 is a visible space that prevents a line break. Replacing unusual spaces is a separate option: it turns a non-breaking space into an ordinary space rather than deleting the gap.
Can this find illegal characters or prove text is AI-generated?
It can reveal Unicode characters that may explain a problem, but allowed characters depend on the destination application. A finding is not proof of malicious intent or AI authorship. Mixed-script warnings also need review: multilingual text can legitimately use more than one script.
Will cleanup change emoji or other languages?
Some invisible characters are meaningful. Joiners and variation selectors are preserved unless you enable emoji removal, which removes complete emoji clusters. Directional controls and unusual spaces can affect writing and formatting, so review the result before using it.