BYTETOOLS

Invisible Character Remover

Remove invisible characters like zero-width spaces, joiners, BOMs, non-breaking spaces and control codes from text. See how many and which types were stripped.

  • Removes zero-width spaces, joiners and BOMs
  • Strips non-breaking spaces and control characters
  • Reports how many and which types were removed
  • Optional non-breaking-space to space conversion
  • Copy or download the cleaned text
  • 100% private — text never leaves your browser

How to use the Invisible Character Remover

  1. 1

    Paste the text you suspect contains hidden characters.

  2. 2

    Choose whether to convert non-breaking spaces to normal spaces.

  3. 3

    Read the count and breakdown of characters that were removed.

  4. 4

    Review the cleaned text in the result box.

  5. 5

    Copy or download the sanitised text.

About the Invisible Character Remover

The ByteTools Invisible Character Remover strips hidden and non-printing characters that sneak into text copied from PDFs, websites and word processors. It cleans zero-width spaces, zero-width joiners, byte-order marks (BOM), non-breaking spaces and other control characters that can break code, search and formatting.

After cleaning, it reports exactly how many characters were removed and which types were found, so you understand what was in your text. Optionally convert non-breaking spaces to normal spaces to fix stubborn layout and copy-paste issues.

All cleaning happens locally in your browser with JavaScript. Your text is never uploaded, stored or logged, making it safe to sanitise code, data and confidential documents right on your device.

Frequently asked questions

What are invisible or zero-width characters?

They are characters that take up no visible space but still exist in the text, such as the zero-width space (U+200B), zero-width joiner (U+200D) and byte-order mark (U+FEFF). They often hitch a ride when you copy text from websites, PDFs or messaging apps.

Why do invisible characters cause problems?

They can break string comparisons, corrupt code, throw off search-and-replace, inflate character counts and cause mysterious formatting glitches. Removing them makes your text behave predictably again.

Does the tool remove normal spaces and line breaks?

No. It preserves regular spaces, tabs and line breaks so your formatting stays intact. Only zero-width characters, BOMs and control codes are stripped — and non-breaking spaces are converted only if you enable that option.

How do I know which hidden characters were in my text?

After cleaning, the tool shows a breakdown listing each type of invisible character it found and how many of each were removed, so you get a clear picture of what was hidden in the text.

Is my text uploaded to be cleaned?

No. The cleaning runs entirely in your browser with JavaScript. Nothing is transmitted or stored, so it is safe for confidential code and documents.

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