👻 Hidden Characters
Detects invisible zero-width characters, non-standard spaces, and bidirectional control characters
Enter text
Result
Result will appear here…
Zero-width (ZWSP, ZWJ, BOM…)
Bidi control (LRM, RLO…)
Non-standard space (NBSP…)

Find Hidden Characters in Text Online

A free tool to detect invisible characters in text: zero-width characters, bidirectional (bidi) direction-control characters, and non-standard spaces. These characters are invisible to the eye but break search, copying, and can even hide malicious code.

What the tool detects

Zero-width characters
Zero-width space, zero-width joiner/non-joiner, BOM, and word joiner take up no visual space but exist in the text as separate characters. Commonly introduced when copying from Word, Google Docs, or web pages.
Hel[ZWSP]lo → looks normal, but search treats it as two different words
Bidi control characters
Direction-control characters (LRM, RLM, RLO, and others) can be used to hide malicious code or disguise visible text in files — a technique known as "Trojan Source".
cmd.exe + [RLO] can be displayed differently than it actually executes
Non-standard spaces
Looks invisible but is a "different" character: non-breaking space (NBSP), narrow no-break space, and other Unicode spaces of varying widths. Break search and line wrapping.
text[NBSP]here → looks like a regular space, but it's a different character

When this is useful

  • Text isn't found with Ctrl+F even though it looks identical
  • Checking text copied from PDF, Word, or websites before publishing
  • Analyzing suspicious files or commands for hidden bidi characters (security)
  • Cleaning text before importing into a database or CMS
  • Checking URLs, domain names, and emails for hidden characters (phishing)
  • Finding the cause of broken formatting or layout

How to use

  1. Paste or type text into the input field
  2. Click "Find hidden characters"
  3. Each found character is highlighted with a color and label — hover for details
  4. Click "Fix all" to remove or normalize the detected characters
  5. Copy the cleaned text with the "⎘" button

Frequently Asked Questions

What are zero-width characters and where do they come from?
They most often appear when copying text from Word, Google Docs, PDF, or certain websites. They're used to separate words in languages without spaces, or as tracking tricks for copied text.
What is a "Trojan Source" attack?
A technique for hiding malicious code using bidirectional direction-control characters — the code looks safe when viewed, but executes differently than it appears on screen.
Why is NBSP (non-breaking space) a problem?
It looks like a regular space but is a different Unicode character (U+00A0 instead of U+0020). Searching for a regular space won't find text containing NBSP.
Does the tool delete characters permanently?
The fix only happens in this tool's input field. The original file or document isn't changed until you paste the cleaned text back yourself.
Is my data stored anywhere?
No. All analysis happens entirely in your browser. Text is never sent to any server.