Hidden Character Detector
Paste your text below to instantly detect zero-width spaces, BOMs, invisible formatting marks, and control characters.
Analysis Summary
How to Use the Hidden Character Detector
Invisible formatting marks, zero-width joiners, and control characters can cause mysterious layout breaking or code parsing errors. This tool exposes them instantly.
1. Paste Your Text
Simply paste the problematic text into the "Enter Text to Analyze" box. The script runs locally in your browser in real-time, meaning your text is totally secure and never sent to a server.
2. Review the Analysis
As soon as you paste the text, check the two output areas:
- Analysis Preview: Any hidden characters found will be visualized as colorful pill badges directly inside your text. Hovering your mouse over the badge will reveal its Hex Code (e.g.
U+200B). - Analysis Summary: The sidebar gives you a strict numerical breakdown of exactly how many anomalies were detected across the entire text string.
3. Sanitize & Copy
If the tool finds anomalies, you can easily remove them. Just click the Copy Cleaned Text link located on the top right of the Analysis Preview box.
This action will instantly strip all zero-width spaces, byte order marks, directional layouts, and invisible control characters, and securely copy the sanitized plain text straight to your clipboard.
💡 Common Scenarios
- Developers: Finding a mysterious "Invalid Character" syntax error after copying code from a PDF or Slack message? Paste it here to reveal the hidden Zero-Width Spaces.
- Database Admins: If database queries or searches are failing on what looks like a perfectly normal string, check for trailing Byte Order Marks (BOM) or Line Separators.
- Designers: If typography refuses to align properly in InDesign or Illustrator, run the paragraph through here to clear directional formatting locks.