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Questions tagged [zalgo]

For questions, regarding Zalgo text, aka text utilizing a vertical combination of stacking characters, giving the text a chaotic look or making it outright unreadable.

Zalgo text uses combining characters for creating a "chaos like" text.

How Zalgo works: How does Zalgo text work?

How to prevent Zalgo text: How can Z͎̠͗ͣḁ̵͙̑l͖͙̫̲̉̃ͦ̾͊ͬ̀g͔̤̞͓̐̓̒̽o͓̳͇̔ͥ text be prevented?

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How does Zalgo text work?

I've seen weirdly formatted text called Zalgo like below written on various forums. It's kind of annoying to look at, but it really bothers me because it undermines my notion of what a character is supposed to be. My understanding is that a…
Mike
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What's up with these Unicode combining characters and how can we filter them?

กิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิ ก้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้ ก็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็ ก็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็ กิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิ ก้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้ ก็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็ กิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิ ก้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้ กิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิ ก้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้…
XCS
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How to protect against diacritics such as Zalgo text

The character pictured above was tweeted a few months ago by Mikko Hyppönen, a computer security expert known for his work on computer viruses and TED talks on computer security. In respect for SO, I will only post an image of it, but you get the…
Derek Hunziker
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Symbol not displaying properly

The symbol is: ؤْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْ What's so special about this symbol and where did it come from? What…
chaosifier
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Why do those Thai characters display on the web page with a long tail?

ด้้้้้็็็็็้้้้้็็็็็้้้้้็็็็็้้้้้็็็็็้้้้้็็็็็้้้้้็็็็็้้้้้็็็็็้้้้้дด็็็็็้้้้้็็็็้้้้้็็็็็้้้้้็็็็็้้้้้็็็็็้้้้้ I found some interesting characters just as I pasted above which takes only 3 spaces width. However the actual length of…
xiao 啸
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How can Z͎̠͗ͣḁ̵͙̑l͖͙̫̲̉̃ͦ̾͊ͬ̀g͔̤̞͓̐̓̒̽o͓̳͇̔ͥ text be prevented?

I've read about how Zalgo text works, and I'm looking to learn how a chat or forum software could prevent that kind of annoyance. More precisely, what is the complete set of Unicode combining characters that needs to: a) either be stripped, assuming…
Dan Dascalescu
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In Node.js design patterns unleashing zalgo why is the asynchronous path consistent?

In the great book i'm reading now NodeJs design patterns I see the following example: var fs = require('fs'); var cache = {}; function inconsistentRead(filename, callback) { if (cache[filename]) { //invoked synchronously …
Jas
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How to avoid Zalgo text bleeding all over place without totally removing it?

Our web service has been hit with some Zalgo text and I'm trying to come up with a good solution for the future. Our policy is to accept all user input and save it in permanent storage (we correctly encode the input for our backend so this part is…
Mikko Rantalainen
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How is this text able to run off the screen?

Sorry, I know it's a little spam-ish, but here is the text in question. Ỏ̷͖͈̞̩͎̻̫̫̜͉̠̫͕̭̭̫̫̹̗̹͈̼̠̖͍͚̥͈̮̼͕̠̤̯̻̥̬̗̼̳̤̳̬̪̹͚̞̼̠͕̼̠̦͚_Ỏ̷͖͈̞̩͎̻̫̫̜͉̠̫͕̭̭̫̫̹̗̹͈̼̠̖͍͚̥͈̮̼͕̠̤̯̻̥̬̗̼̳̤̳̬̪̹͚̞̼̠͕̼̠̦͚̫ How does this work? How is it able to run off the page like…
user3117633
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C̨̦̺̩̲̥͉̭͚̜̻̝̣̼͙̮̯̪o̴̡͇̘͎̞̲͇̦̲͞͡m̸̩̺̝̣̹̱͚̬̥̫̳̼̞̘̯͘ͅẹ͇̺̜́̕͢ - What kind of string is this?

H̸̷͓̳̳̯̟͕̟͍͍̣͡ḛ̢̦̰̺̮̝͖͖̘̪͉͘͡ ̠̦͕̤̪̝̥̰̠̫̖̣͙̬͘ͅC̨̦̺̩̲̥͉̭͚̜̻̝̣̼͙̮̯̪o̴̡͇̘͎̞̲͇̦̲͞͡m̸̩̺̝̣̹̱͚̬̥̫̳̼̞̘̯͘ͅẹ͇̺̜́̕͢s̶̙̟̱̥̮̯̰̦͓͇͖͖̝͘͘͞ . I found this string in Cookie Clicker. It seems it is made of 8 wired big characters which are then made of many unicode…
USSEraser
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What the heck are these characters?

I recently read this post on stack overflow: RegEx match open tags except XHTML self-contained tags The top reply contains text with text which appears to 'bleed': ea͠ki̧n͘g fr̶ǫm ̡yo​͟ur eye͢s̸ ̛l̕ik͏e liq​uid pain, the song of re̸gular…
Dan Alvizu
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Weird (unicode?) characters

A user has been posting some weird characters on my site and I'd like to block them from doing so but without blocking characters used in foreign languages... Therefore, using a regex such as [a-z0-9!@#$%^&*()...] isn't an option. Could someone…
user1960364
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Unicode tricks and hacks, vertical text, Non spacing marks

I ran into some vertical text that overflowed on a popular site which surprised me and thought it was some sort of code injection. !̸̶͚͖͖̩̻̩̗͍̮̙̈͊͛̈͒̍̐ͣͩ̋ͨ̓̊̌̈̊́̚͝͠ͅ When I select it its like one character .. when I hit backspace its like tens of…
encore2097
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Zalgo text in Java?

So I have seen Unicode being exploited to produce a big scary looking mess of characters from a normal input text, better known as Zalgo text. HTML (edit: javascript) seems to do a wonderful job at that. So I was wondering, can same (or something…
Strainborm
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'c̷̙̲̝͖ͭ̏ͥͮ͟' character in Zalgo in Chrome's Google history

I have managed to get a c̷̙̲̝͖ͭ̏ͥͮ͟ (from Zalgo) in Chrome's history and now, any search that starts with a c is typed in the address bar I get c̷̙̲̝͖ͭ̏ͥͮ͟ instead. How to I clear this? e.g. c̷̙̲̝͖ͭ̏ͥͮ͟alender c̷̙̲̝͖ͭ̏ͥͮ͟upcakes
BanksySan
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