Toolstia / invisible character detector
Invisible character detector
Text copied from the web or an AI chat can contain characters you cannot see. Paste it here to list each hidden character, its code and its position, and to get a clean copy.
Special spaces are replaced with a normal space, and zero-width characters, soft hyphens and direction marks are removed. Removing joiners can change how emoji and some languages display, so keep them if your text uses those.
How it works
- Paste your text.
- Read the list of hidden characters and where they are.
- Copy the cleaned text.
What it finds
Zero-width spaces and joiners, the byte order mark, soft hyphens, no-break and other special spaces, line and paragraph separators, and left-to-right and right-to-left direction controls.
Why they matter
Hidden characters can break searches, code, passwords, spreadsheet formulas and string comparisons, even though the text looks fine.
Positions
Each position is shown as a line and column number so you can find it in your editor.
Cleaning
Special spaces become normal spaces. Zero-width characters, soft hyphens and direction marks are removed. You can keep joiners that emoji need.
Questions
Do AI tools add hidden characters?
Sometimes text copied from web pages, documents and chat tools contains them, though it is not a reliable sign of where the text came from.
Will cleaning break emoji?
Keep the joiner option on if your text has emoji with skin tones or families, because they use joiners.
Is my text uploaded?
Everything happens in your browser, and nothing you paste is sent anywhere.