Why does an emoji only take up one row instead of two?

The tool iterates the string by Unicode code point rather than by UTF-16 code unit, so a surrogate pair that represents one emoji or astral character is grouped into a single row instead of splitting into two separate entries.

What's the difference between the UTF-8 and UTF-16 columns?

UTF-8 shows the variable-length byte sequence, one to four bytes, that the character encodes to on disk or over a network, while UTF-16 shows the 16-bit code units JavaScript strings actually store internally.

What format is the HTML entity column?

A decimal numeric character reference in the form &#NNN;, built directly from the character's code point, which any HTML renderer accepts even for characters that don't have a named entity like &.

Can it help find an invisible or unexpected character?

Yes, pasting a string that looks correct but behaves oddly will surface any zero-width space, non-breaking space, or unexpected control character as its own row with a distinct code point, even when it's invisible in a normal text editor.

ASCII / Unicode Inspector

Inspect each character: code point, UTF-8/UTF-16 bytes and HTML entity, locally.

Local, Runs entirely in your browser, your data never leaves your device.

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See exactly what each character in your text is

A string that looks fine in one editor and breaks in another usually hides an invisible character, a mismatched encoding, or an astral-plane emoji split across two UTF-16 units. This tool walks your text one code point at a time and shows its hex and decimal code point, its UTF-8 byte sequence, its UTF-16 code units, and its numeric HTML entity, so you can spot exactly which character is causing trouble. It runs locally against whatever you paste, character by character, as you type.

How to use the ASCII / Unicode Inspector

Type or paste text into the Text panel on the left.
Read each character's row on the right: the character itself, its code point in hex, its decimal value.
Check the UTF-8 column to see the raw bytes that character encodes to.
Check the Entity column for the numeric HTML entity you'd use to embed that character literally.
Scroll the table for long input, it lists every code point in the string in order.

Iteration is by Unicode code point, not by UTF-16 code unit, so an emoji made of a surrogate pair, like most emoji outside the Basic Multilingual Plane, appears as one row rather than two broken halves.

Whitespace characters are shown as a visible ␣ symbol in the character column so a stray space, tab or non-breaking space doesn't just look like empty space in the table.

Frequently asked questions

Why does an emoji only take up one row instead of two?: The tool iterates the string by Unicode code point rather than by UTF-16 code unit, so a surrogate pair that represents one emoji or astral character is grouped into a single row instead of splitting into two separate entries.
What's the difference between the UTF-8 and UTF-16 columns?: UTF-8 shows the variable-length byte sequence, one to four bytes, that the character encodes to on disk or over a network, while UTF-16 shows the 16-bit code units JavaScript strings actually store internally.
What format is the HTML entity column?: A decimal numeric character reference in the form &#NNN;, built directly from the character's code point, which any HTML renderer accepts even for characters that don't have a named entity like &.
Can it help find an invisible or unexpected character?: Yes, pasting a string that looks correct but behaves oddly will surface any zero-width space, non-breaking space, or unexpected control character as its own row with a distinct code point, even when it's invisible in a normal text editor.