␣ Whitespace Visualizer
Paste text to reveal spaces (·), tabs (→) and line breaks (¶) as visible symbols. Trailing whitespace at the end of a line is highlighted.
Reading the map
Every character in the box is copied through untouched except two, which are swapped for a visible stand-in:
| Symbol | Means |
|---|---|
| · | One space |
| → | One tab, drawn as a single arrow rather than expanded to the next tab stop |
| ¶ | The end of a line - printed on every line, including the last one |
| Highlighted run | Spaces or tabs sitting at the end of a line, the ones that break diffs and YAML |
The four figures above the map count spaces and tabs anywhere in the text, the number of lines, and how many of those lines end in whitespace. A line holding nothing but spaces counts as trailing whitespace, since the run reaches the end.
What it will not show you
- Only the plain space and tab are marked. A no-break space from Word, a zero-width space copied off a web page, or a byte order mark at the start of a file all pass through invisibly. If a line looks clean here and still misbehaves, take it to the Unicode Character Inspector.
- Line endings cannot be told apart. The browser converts Windows CRLF to plain newlines the moment text is pasted into the box, so both look the same here.
- It reports rather than repairs. To remove what it finds, run the text through Trim Line Start & End.
Frequently asked questions
How do I find trailing spaces at the end of a line?
Paste the text and look for the highlighted run just before each line-end symbol. The count of affected lines is listed above the map, so you can tell at a glance whether the file is clean.
How do I tell a tab from four spaces?
A tab appears as one arrow, four spaces as four separate dots. The tab and space totals above the map give the same answer for the whole document, which is the quick way to spot a file with mixed indentation.
Why does it count one more line than I typed?
Because the text ends with a newline, leaving an empty final line. That is normal for files written by an editor.