Zero-Width Space Changes Hash – U+200B SHA-256 Check

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Troubleshoot a hash mismatch caused by an invisible zero-width space character.

6 chars · 1 line

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Invisible Unicode hash differences

Why does a zero-width space change the hash?

U+200B has no visible width, but it is still a Unicode character. VetaTool hashes it as part of the exact input text. This tool is free to use. No account or payment is required.

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What you can do here

  • MD5 text digests
  • SHA-1 text digests
  • SHA-256 text digests
  • SHA-512 text digests
  • Exact text byte sensitivity
  • Browser-local hashing

Steps

  1. Reveal Unicode code points in the source text.
  2. Compare the string with U+200B removed.
  3. Normalize only if your application specification requires removal.

Zero width does not mean zero bytes

U+200B is encoded as real UTF-8 bytes. Cryptographic hashing reacts to those bytes even though the character is invisible in ordinary rendering.

hello + U+200B vs hello

The first input has one zero-width space after hello.

Input comparison

hello + U+200B
hello

SHA-256 digests

with U+200B: aa29ed4d628460063952ff5c14e3ae5f9fc19afa62584ece958d34c7c8e77f02
plain hello: 2cf24dba5fb0a30e26e83b2ac5b9e29e1b161e5c1fa7425e73043362938b9824

Common questions

Frequently asked questions

Does trim remove a zero-width space?

Do not assume so. Treat U+200B as a distinct Unicode character and inspect it explicitly.

Does VetaTool remove U+200B?

No. The entered text is hashed exactly as supplied.

Recommended next steps

UTF-8 BOM Changes HashDetect an invisible byte-order mark before otherwise identical text.NBSP vs Space HashCompare a non-breaking space with an ordinary ASCII space.Hash Generator Online – MD5 & SHAGenerate MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256, and SHA-512 digests for exact text locally.

Debugging a specific Hash issue? Browse Hash troubleshooting.