Homoglyph Detector & Generator
Free online homoglyph detector and Unicode homoglyph generator. Check text for homoglyph attacks, invisible characters, zero-width spaces, and IDN spoofing — all privately in your browser.
Last updated: 2026-03-19
Input
Position: 0 / 0 charsSanitised Output
Position: 0 / 0 charsNBSP, ZWSP, and soft hyphens are replaced with markers [NBSP], [ZWSP], [SHY]. All other non‑ASCII characters are wrapped as [CHAR:U+XXXX] so homoglyphs stand out.
Detected non‑ASCII / homoglyph characters
No non‑ASCII characters detected after sanitisation.
Console / Node.js usage example
// Example usage (browser console or Node.js) const sample = "a\u00A0\u200B\u00ADα"; const result = sanitizeAndHighlight(sample); console.log(result.cleaned); // => a [NBSP] [ZWSP] [SHY][CHAR:U+03B1]
Key Features
- Detects invisible characters (NBSP, ZWSP, soft hyphens)
- Identifies Unicode homoglyphs
- Shows character positions and code points
- Sanitizes text with visible markers
- Normalizes text using NFKC
- No data sent to servers - complete privacy
- Free to use, no registration required
How to Use the Weird Character Detector
- Paste Text: Paste or type text that may contain invisible characters or homoglyphs.
- Sanitize & Highlight: Click the "Sanitise & highlight" button to process the text.
- Review Output: The sanitized output shows markers for invisible characters and non-ASCII characters.
- Check Detected Characters: Review the list of detected non-ASCII characters with their Unicode code points.
What is a Homoglyph Attack? (IDN Homograph Attack)
A Homoglyph Attack (or IDN Homograph Attack) is a deception technique where attackers use characters that look visually identical but are technically different Unicode characters. For example, the Cyrillic letter "а" (U+0430) looks exactly like the Latin letter "a" (U+0061).
Attackers use this to spoof domain names, emails, and code. A user might think they are visiting google.com, but they are actually visitinggоogle.com (where the 'o' is a Cyrillic character). This is a common method for Phishing and distributing malware.
Visual Examples of Spoofing
| Legitimate (Latin) | Spoof (Homoglyph) | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| apple.com | арple.com | Cyrillic 'р' (U+0440) used instead of 'p' |
| admin | аdmin | Cyrillic 'а' (U+0430) used instead of 'a' |
Why Detection Matters for Security
- Phishing Prevention: Security teams use this tool to analyze suspicious URLs found in emails to check for IDN spoofing.
- Social Engineering: Detect if a username like "Administrator" has been spoofed with invisible characters to impersonate staff.
- Code Integrity: Attackers can inject invisible characters (like Zero-width space) into source code to break parsers or hide malicious logic.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I detect a fake text generator attack?
Fake text generators often use mathematical bold or italic unicode characters (e.g., 𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐨) to bypass filters. Paste the text into this tool, and we will reveal the underlying Unicode code points (e.g., [CHAR:U+1D407]), alerting you that it is not standard ASCII text.
What are invisible characters?
Invisible characters are Unicode characters that appear as spaces or nothing but can cause issues in text processing. Examples include zero-width spaces (U+200B), no-break spaces (U+00A0), and soft hyphens (U+00AD).
What are homoglyphs?
Homoglyphs are characters that look identical but have different Unicode code points. For example, the Latin "a" (U+0061) and the Cyrillic "а" (U+0430) look the same but are different characters, which can be used in phishing attacks.
Is my text data secure?
Yes, absolutely. All text processing happens entirely in your browser. Your data is never sent to any server, ensuring complete privacy and security.
Why would I need to detect weird characters?
Invisible characters and homoglyphs can cause bugs in code, break text processing, or be used maliciously in phishing attacks. This tool helps identify and sanitize these problematic characters.
What does the tool do with detected characters?
The tool replaces invisible characters with visible markers (like [NBSP], [ZWSP], [SHY]) and wraps non-ASCII characters with [CHAR:U+XXXX] markers so you can see exactly what characters are present and where.
Can I use this tool offline?
Yes, this tool works completely offline. Once the page is loaded, you can detect and sanitize weird characters without an internet connection.
Preview
