👻 Text & Writing

Invisible Character Remover

Detect the hidden characters that slip into copy-pasted or AI-generated text — zero-width characters, BOM, special spaces, control characters and soft hyphens — with a per-type count. Check where they are in the highlighted preview, then strip them all in one click. Everything runs in your browser, so your text never leaves it.

Example (click to try)

Regular spaces, tabs and line breaks are treated as normal and are never detected or removed.

Invisible characters found
0Total
0Zero-width
0Special spaces
0Control & format
0Soft hyphen
Highlighted preview

Detected characters show as badges like [ZWSP]; hover to see the U+ code and name. Normal characters are shown as-is.

How to use

Paste the text you want to check into the field above. The per-type counts and the highlighted preview update automatically, so you can see at a glance which hidden characters are where.

  • Detect on paste: it counts how many of each of the four types — zero-width, special spaces, control/format and soft hyphens — the text contains.
  • See where they are: detected characters appear as badges like [ZWSP]; hover for the U+ code and character name. Colors differ by type.
  • Three ways to clean: "Remove all" deletes invisible characters and turns special spaces into regular spaces. "Remove zero-width only" and "Convert special spaces to regular spaces" let you clean more selectively.
  • Copy the result: the cleaned text appears in the box below; "Copy result" puts it on your clipboard.

Handy for

  • Stripping watermark-like zero-width characters embedded in text from AI tools such as ChatGPT
  • Text copied from websites or chats that won't match in search, comparison or diffs
  • Full-width spaces or NBSP (no-break space) that break programs or garble CSV files
  • Cleaning invisible junk out of manuscripts or source code before submitting

Detected types are zero-width characters (U+200B/200C/200D/2060/FEFF), special spaces (NBSP, full-width space, various-width spaces, etc.), control & format characters (C0/C1 controls, bidi controls, etc.) and the soft hyphen (U+00AD). Everyday spaces, tabs and line breaks are left untouched.

FAQ

Is the text I enter sent to a server?
No. Detection and removal happen entirely in your browser; the text you enter is never sent to or stored on any server. It even works offline, so you can use it with confidence.
What are zero-width characters, and why do they appear?
Zero-width characters take up no width and are invisible on screen — examples are the zero-width space (U+200B) and the BOM (U+FEFF). They slip in when you copy from web pages or chats, from watermarks in AI-generated text, or from emoji joining, and they cause trouble in search, comparison and programs.
Will it delete normal spaces or line breaks?
No. Regular spaces (U+0020), tabs and line breaks are treated as normal and are never detected or removed. Only zero-width characters, special spaces, control/format characters and soft hyphens are removed. Choose "Convert special spaces to regular spaces" to replace them with normal spaces while keeping word boundaries.