Unicode Character Inspector

About Unicode character inspector

The Unicode character inspector breaks a string into individual code points and shows each one's code point number, UTF-8 bytes, UTF-16 units, HTML entity, JavaScript escape, CSS escape and category. It flags invisible characters such as zero-width spaces that quietly break comparisons, searches and code. Developers and editors use it to find out exactly what is inside a piece of pasted text.

How to use it

1. Paste the string to examine into the input box. It begins with a sample containing an accent, an emoji and a hidden character.
2. Read the summary badges for code points, graphemes, UTF-16 units and UTF-8 bytes.
3. Scan the Code point breakdown table; invisible characters carry a red badge, with combining and astral characters marked too.
4. Turn on Show only invisible and combining characters to isolate suspects, then use Copy JSON or Download CSV.

One emoji, several encodings

😀

U+1F600, UTF-8: F0 9F 98 80, UTF-16: D83D DE00, JS: \u{1F600}, HTML: 😀

When to use it

• Tracking down a zero-width space or non-breaking space that makes two identical-looking strings unequal.
• Finding the exact code point to use when writing an HTML entity, CSS escape or JavaScript string.
• Working out why a database column reports more bytes than the visible characters suggest.
• Investigating a lookalike or invisible character in pasted text, such as a right-to-left override.

Questions about Unicode character inspector

What is the difference between code points and graphemes?

A code point is one Unicode value, while a grapheme is one character as a reader sees it. The letter é typed as e plus a combining accent is two code points but a single grapheme.

Why are UTF-16 units different from code points?

Characters above U+FFFF, such as most emoji, are stored as a surrogate pair of two UTF-16 units. That is why a string's length in JavaScript can be larger than its number of characters.

Which characters count as invisible?

Zero-width spaces and joiners, byte order marks, soft hyphens, directional marks, unusual space characters, and control characters. An ordinary space is shown with a placeholder but is not counted as invisible.

Is there a size limit?

The table lists the first 500 code points, and says so when more exist. The summary badges always cover your entire input.

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