Invisible characters, also called whitespace characters or non-printing characters, are important but often overlooked components of text and digital communication.
These characters occupy space in a text but do not produce visible symbols when displayed. Therefore, they are called ‘invisible’ as the naked eye can’t see them. They play a direct key in text formatting, spacing, and alignment.
Invisible characters are found in Unicode standards and ASCII encoding, where they serve various technical and aesthetic purposes.
But why are they used? What are their practical applications? How can you access and use them? Read this detailed guide to learn all this!
What Are Types of Invisible Characters?
Invisible characters ASCII Unicode blank characters that come in various types, each serving a specific purpose. Some of the most commonly used are:
How Are Invisible Characters Represented Technically?
Invisible characters are associated with a text encoding standard called Unicode Standard, where each character is represented with a unique code point.
These codes are unique numbers assigned to each character, even the ones you can't see, like spaces or tabs. This is regardless of platform, program, or language.
For example, in Unicode, a zero-width space, which is invisible but can be used to mark word boundaries, is U+200B.
‘U+’ is followed by numbers in Unicode, and the whole combination represents a Unicode code point. NOTE: ‘U+’ is a notation to show that the number is in hexadecimal (base-16) format.
Each unique code assigned to an invisible character is like an ID number. This ensures the same character appears the same way, no matter what device or program you're using.
Where to Get Invisible Characters?
There are two reliable ways to access and copy invisible characters:
Unicode Website
Unicode website, as the name suggests, lets you access comprehensive lists and charts of all Unicode characters, including the invisible ones.
For example, Unicode Explorer is one such website.
These websites have search features. You can use it to search for the invisible character or any Unicode character and directly copy it into the clipboard. If you know the code points (e.g., U+200B for zero-width space), you can use it, too.
All the characters mentioned on this website have their Unicode name, hex code, HTML code, and others identified to select the right way to embed it into the desired spot.
Online Tools
If you don’t know the exact name of the invisible character you’re looking for or it seems difficult to find it manually, you should use online tools.
There are many online tools available at the moment. These tools are cloud-based entities designed specifically to provide access to invisible characters with ease.
For example, Invisible-Character is one such online tool.
To access the invisible character, all you need is to click on the following buttons:
Copy small — for No-Break Space
Copy medium — for Braille Pattern Blank
Copy large — for Ideographic Space
If you want to generate more invisible characters in one go, enter your desired number in the ‘Method 3’ and click the ‘Generate’ button. Once generated, copy the generated space.
Now, the desired invisible space is copied to your device's clipboard. You can use it for formatting purposes, like preventing line breaks in text, creating visually empty content (e.g., blank messages on social media), or whatever you want.
Practical Application/Uses of Invisible Characters
You can use invisible characters for many different purposes, such as:
Format Text Without Visible Spaces
Invisible characters are very helpful in formatting, especially when regular spaces don't achieve the desired effect.
In documents, spreadsheets, or coding, invisible characters can align text without creating unwanted visible spaces. For example, you can neatly align the numbers in a table with invisible spaces that may not be possible with normal space from keywords.
In addition, many systems and platforms don’t allow adding more than one normal space. In such a case, you can use invisible characters to create a clean look.
Social Media Tricks
Want to stand out on social media platforms? Empty characters can help you with that.
Apps like WhatsApp and Telegram don’t allow sending empty messages. You can surprise your friends by sending them blank messages with invisible spaces.
In addition, you can use invisible characters to create usernames or profile bios that look empty or are created in a unique manner. This makes your profile stand out.
Improve Online Security
Here comes the most important application of invisible characters: online security.
First of all, non-printing characters can make usernames appear identical to others while being completely different—they carry additional non-visible characters.
For example, “JaneDoe” and “JaneDoe” look the same but are recognized differently by systems due to hidden characters. This way, there are very few chances for a scammer or hacker to find your account and harm you.
In addition, you can use these characters in the passwords to make them difficult to crack.
Even if someone tries to try a brute force attack on your account, the bots or programs won’t find the right combination. This is because they don’t include invisible characters in their attacking procedure.
Create Unique Usernames in Games
As mentioned earlier, these characters can be used to create unique usernames. The same goes for famous gaming platforms, such as Fortnite and PUBG.
Gamers can use invisible characters to create usernames that look empty, which makes them unique and cool. They can even add hidden spaces or characters into their regular names to appear different from the other players.
Fill Empty Form Fields
Survey forms are commonly used to collect information. Some websites and platforms require you to fill out the form first to access their services.
If you don’t want to fill out your personal information on the form, you can use invisible characters to save yourself in such a situation.
When a form insists on filling out a field you want to leave blank, an invisible character can bypass the restriction. These characters can also be added to feedback forms or comment sections where no visible input is required.
Conclusion
Invisible characters are small but powerful tools in the digital world. They help format text, secure data, and create unique usernames or messages.
They’re also fun for social media tricks, like sending blank messages or designing creative profiles. Accessible through Unicode websites or online tools, invisible characters are simple to use and versatile in purpose.
These characters are widely used in the ASCII Unicode system, with applications ranging from clean text alignment to enhancing online security.
