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Blank Space Copy & Paste

Pick how many, then copy. Different characters survive different validation.

Braille pattern blankThe most reliable of the lot. It is a real printing character that happens to be empty, so most systems treat it as visible text.U+2800
Hangul fillerWidely used where a name field rejects spaces. Historically the standard trick for blank usernames.U+3164
Zero-width spaceTakes no width at all. Useful for forcing a line break opportunity in a long string; often stripped by form validation.U+200B
Figure spaceA space the width of a digit. Intended for aligning numbers in tables rather than for blanking fields.U+2007
Non-breaking spaceA normal-width space that will not break across lines. The most widely supported of these, and the least likely to be stripped.U+00A0
Word joinerZero width, and prevents a line break at that point. Invisible to the reader.U+2060
Mongolian vowel separatorZero width in current Unicode. Behaviour has changed between versions, so support is inconsistent.U+180E

Copy something to see it here

Characters that are there but look like nothing

Unicode contains a number of characters that occupy space, or claim to, but draw nothing. They exist for legitimate typographic reasons — aligning numbers in a table, preventing an awkward line break, filling a slot in a Korean syllable block. They also happen to be the standard way to get past a form that insists on a non-empty value.

They are not all the same

This is the part that trips people up. A zero-width space and a Braille pattern blank behave completely differently, and which one works depends entirely on what is validating the input.

  • Zero-width characters take no space at all. Good for controlling line breaks; frequently stripped by validation precisely because they are invisible.
  • Full-width blanks such as the Braille pattern blank and the Hangul filler are treated as ordinary printing characters by most systems, which is why they survive validation more often.
  • Space variants such as the non-breaking space are usually recognised as whitespace, so anything trimming input will remove them.

If one does not work, try another. There is no single character that works everywhere, and there never has been.

How to use it

  1. Choose how many you want — some fields have a minimum length.
  2. Copy the one you want. The preview shows it between brackets with a character count, so you can confirm something really was copied.
  3. Paste it wherever you need it.
  4. If it is rejected, try a different character. The Braille blank and Hangul filler survive the most validation.

Common uses and tips

Where people use these

  • Blank usernames and display names in games and chat applications.
  • Spacing in bios and captions on platforms that collapse ordinary blank lines.
  • Empty-looking messages, though many platforms now filter these deliberately.
  • Aligning numbers in plain text, which is the figure space's actual purpose.
  • Preventing awkward line breaks, which is what the non-breaking space and word joiner are for.

Things worth knowing

  • Many platforms now filter them, because blank names have been used to evade moderation. Expect this to work less well over time.
  • Search will not find them. A name made of invisible characters is a name nobody can look up, including you.
  • Screen readers handle them inconsistently. Using them for layout in anything public makes it worse for people using assistive technology.
  • Some systems will not let you log in with a name you cannot type. Be careful using these anywhere that matters.

Questions people ask

Which blank character works best?

The Braille pattern blank (U+2800) and the Hangul filler (U+3164) survive the most validation, because systems treat them as ordinary printing characters rather than whitespace.

Why was my blank name rejected?

Either the platform strips invisible characters deliberately, or its validation trims whitespace and the character you used counts as whitespace. Try the Braille blank instead.

Is a zero-width space the same as a blank space?

No. A zero-width space occupies no width at all; the Braille blank occupies a full character width while drawing nothing.

Will these keep working?

Probably less well over time. Platforms increasingly filter them because blank names have been used to evade moderation.

Do these cause accessibility problems?

They can. Screen readers handle them inconsistently, so using them for layout in anything public is worth avoiding.