Questions tagged [zalgo]

Use this tag for questions about Zalgo text

Zalgo text uses combining characters for create a "chaos like" text

How Zalgo works: How does Zalgo text work?

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

29 questions
711
votes
2 answers

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
  • 54,052
  • 71
  • 166
  • 213
92
votes
4 answers

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
  • 23,776
  • 24
  • 82
  • 135
39
votes
3 answers

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
  • 12,518
  • 3
  • 53
  • 103
30
votes
5 answers

Symbol not displaying properly

The symbol is: ؤْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْْ What's so special about this symbol and where did it come from? What…
chaosifier
  • 1,937
  • 15
  • 35
27
votes
4 answers

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
  • 5,732
  • 8
  • 37
  • 49
20
votes
5 answers

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
  • 110,650
  • 40
  • 276
  • 363
11
votes
1 answer

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
  • 9,490
  • 8
  • 53
  • 86
9
votes
4 answers

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
  • 12,534
  • 20
  • 79
  • 134
9
votes
2 answers

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
  • 101
  • 1
  • 5
7
votes
0 answers

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
  • 315
  • 2
  • 11
7
votes
3 answers

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
  • 1,831
  • 4
  • 24
  • 43
4
votes
0 answers

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
  • 461
  • 2
  • 6
  • 18
4
votes
1 answer

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
  • 61
  • 5
4
votes
1 answer

'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
  • 24,077
  • 27
  • 94
  • 189
4
votes
1 answer

How to check if a string contains zalgo text?

I'm currently being 'spammed' with zalgo text on my webpage and i need a function to check if it contains zalgo. I found this code: if ( preg_match ( '/[^\x20-\x7E]/', $text ) || preg_match ( '/[^\x20-\x7E]/', $text ) ) { die('ZALGO not…
Bart Smienk
  • 151
  • 6
1
2