Why does the Visual Studio editor show dots in blank spaces?

Question

I have a strange bug in the Visual Studio text editor. All my blank spaces are replaced by a "."

public class Person
{
  int age;
}

looks like this

public..class..Person..........................
{..................
..int age;...................
}.....................

I reset the settings to default. Didn't work. I also re-installed VS2008. Still didn't work. What's the error?

btw, in this example would be 10x better keep the dots! The code is bad indented and these lost dots at the end of the line will probably create problem in the future when merging. — Custodio, Jun 13 '13 at 20:26

score 846 · Accepted Answer · edited Dec 07 '17 at 17:03

846

Visual Studio is configured to show whitespace.

Press Ctrl+R, Ctrl+W.

If you are using C# keyboard mappings: (thanks Simeon)

Press Ctrl+E, S.

If you want to use the menu: (thanks angularsen)

Edit > Advanced > View White Space

edited Dec 07 '17 at 17:03

Luis Perez

27,650
10
79
80

answered Jun 10 '09 at 03:34

89

Or Cntrl+E,S if you are using the C# Keyboard mappings. – Simeon Pilgrim Jun 10 '09 at 04:06
1

Ah, that explains it! I'd tried to press Ctrl+E, D but missed and hit S instead... Thanks! – Jon Artus Feb 21 '11 at 09:05
19

Did not work for me, I think Resharper addin intercepted both shortcuts described here. However, to uncheck Edit->Advanced->View whitespace solved it. – angularsen Sep 21 '11 at 08:26
2

Thanks, this happens sometimes when clicking too fast (in the wrong window). It's already the third time I came here to look it up, thx – Joost Schepel Oct 15 '12 at 12:40
4

Works in VS2008. Cannot believe I randomly managed to press that combination! – Perfection May 08 '13 at 15:18
@AndreasLarsen I think you should propose an edit to the answer here and add this as well. Knowing where the setting is is as helpful as the shortcut itself, and avoids problems like you described. – julealgon Apr 08 '14 at 13:42
1

@julealgon: The answer with the second most votes already answers this. – angularsen Apr 08 '14 at 19:04
in VS Version: 1.39.2 - 2019 view -> Render Whitespace – Marcogomesr Oct 17 '19 at 09:55

JaredPar · Answer 2 · 2009-06-10T03:42:15.290

77

Looks like you have the view white space option enabled. Go to Edit -> Advanced -> and uncheck "View Whitespace"

edited Jun 10 '09 at 03:42

answered Jun 10 '09 at 03:33

JaredPar

733,204
149
1,241
1,454

1

Edit -> Advanced, not "View -> Advanced" – 1800 INFORMATION Jun 10 '09 at 03:42
2

I am sorry, but I am unable to find Edit-> Advance as well. – SNA Jun 10 '09 at 04:16
@unknown, what version of visual studio are you using? – JaredPar Jun 10 '09 at 04:35
VS2008 is the version which i am using – SNA Jun 10 '09 at 05:19

score 27 · Answer 3 · edited Oct 29 '14 at 08:39

27

In Visual Studio 2012
Go to
Edit -> Advanced -> View White Spaces
Or
Press Ctrl+R, Ctrl+W

edited Oct 29 '14 at 08:39

general03

855
1
10
33

answered Aug 29 '13 at 10:26

Satish Singh

2,169
3
23
32

score 10 · Answer 4 · edited Sep 09 '14 at 08:24

10

~ FOR VISUAL STUDIO 6 ~

use: ctrl+shift+8 to toggle on/off.

(or manualy go to: Edit> Advance > "View Whitespaces")

goodluck!

Works also for Visual Studio 2008, when Tools/Options/Environment/Keyboard/Mapping Scheme: Visual C++ 6 is selected.

edited Sep 09 '14 at 08:24

Philipp M

1,877
7
27
38

answered Jan 04 '10 at 13:42

score 6 · Answer 5 · edited Feb 07 '14 at 15:55

6

Please press below buttons in combination of Ctrl + R,W

edited Feb 07 '14 at 15:55

aksu

5,221
5
24
39

answered Jul 11 '12 at 10:06

Bins

322
5
13

score 6 · Answer 6 · edited Apr 17 '14 at 04:36

6

I had the same problem and resolved by pressing Ctrl + R , Ctrl + W.

edited Apr 17 '14 at 04:36

Navnath Godse

2,233
2
23
32

answered Dec 08 '09 at 09:13

amol

61
1
1

score 3 · Answer 7 · answered Jun 12 '19 at 03:59

3

In Visual Studio vesrion 1.34.0 View -> Toggle Render Whitespace

answered Jun 12 '19 at 03:59

Veeresh Honnaraddi

1,011
1
9
20

score 2 · Answer 8 · answered Oct 25 '13 at 12:27

2

Press ctrl + E followed by S key to remove the lines in Visual Studio 10

answered Oct 25 '13 at 12:27

Jainendra

24,713
30
122
169

score 1 · Answer 9 · answered Aug 25 '17 at 14:15

1

go to File -> Preferences -> Settings, this will open two panels side by side, the left one is default setting and the right one is user setting, you can add your setting on right panel, for this you can add "editor.renderWhitespace": "all".

answered Aug 25 '17 at 14:15

Paridokht

1,374
6
20
45

score 0 · Answer 10 · edited Feb 17 '17 at 07:04

0

In visual studio 2015, goto->view->formatting marks, unselect show

edited Feb 17 '17 at 07:04

Naveen Kumar R B

6,248
5
32
65

answered Feb 17 '17 at 06:57

SAi Chandar

1

score 0 · Answer 11 · answered May 27 '19 at 08:55

0

In Visual Studio 2019, this can also be configured in Tools -> Options -> General -> View whitespace

answered May 27 '19 at 08:55

Mykhailo Seniutovych

3,527
4
28
50

Why does the Visual Studio editor show dots in blank spaces?

11 Answers11

Linked

Related