ASCII-Cleantext
Cleans text from special characters, zero-width characters and converts to pure ASCII
Why is ASCII text cleaning needed?
This tool removes invisible and problematic characters from texts that can cause errors in data processing, APIs or import/export operations:
- Zero-Width Characters: Invisible Unicode characters (U+200B, U+FEFF, etc.) that falsify text comparisons
- Typographic Characters: Replaces "quotation marks", dashes – and other variants with ASCII equivalents
- Unicode Normalization: Optionally converts special characters (é, ñ, ä) to ASCII (e, n, a/ae)
- Whitespace Cleaning: Normalizes NBSP, thin spaces and other whitespace variants
Use cases: Database import, CSV/JSON processing, email texts, API requests, code snippets, legacy systems (ASCII-only support)
Input & Highlights
Cleaned ASCII Text
Frequently Asked Questions
What are zero-width characters and why are they problematic?
Zero-width characters are invisible Unicode characters (e.g. U+200B, U+FEFF) that take up no visible space but can cause errors in databases, CSV files and APIs. ASCII-Cleantext detects and removes them automatically.
How do I convert German umlauts to ASCII?
ASCII-Cleantext offers three options: keep umlauts (ä, ö, ü), remove them, or convert to digraphs (ä→ae, ö→oe, ü→ue, ß→ss). The digraph conversion is ideal for systems that only support ASCII characters.
Is the tool free and GDPR compliant?
Yes, ASCII-Cleantext is completely free. All text processing happens locally in your browser — no text is sent to any server. All fonts are hosted locally, no external trackers.
Which invisible characters are detected?
The tool detects and removes: Zero-Width Space (U+200B), Zero-Width Non-Joiner (U+200C), Zero-Width Joiner (U+200D), Byte Order Mark (U+FEFF), Soft Hyphen (U+00AD), Non-Breaking Space (U+00A0), as well as various typographic quotation marks and dashes.
What is ASCII text cleaning used for?
Common use cases: cleaning database imports, sanitizing CSV/JSON files, normalizing email text, preparing API requests, removing invisible characters from code snippets, and preparing text for legacy systems that only support ASCII.