Text Normalizer
Normalise text for storage and comparison: Unicode normalisation forms, smart quote conversion, whitespace collapsing, invisible character removal and accent folding.
Last reviewed by the Radiatus Cloud team
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Two identical looking strings can differ
The letter e with an acute accent can be a single code point or an e followed by a combining accent, and both render identically. A string comparison, a database unique index and a URL match all treat them as different. Unicode normalisation resolves this by converting to a canonical form: NFC composes characters where possible and NFD decomposes them. Applying NFC consistently before storage removes an entire class of bug where a record cannot be found by the name it was saved under.
The compatibility forms change appearance
NFKC and NFKD go further, mapping characters that are semantically equivalent but visually distinct: a full width Latin letter becomes an ordinary one, a ligature becomes its component letters, and a superscript two becomes a plain digit. That is exactly right for a search index and wrong for text you intend to display, because it discards deliberate formatting. Choosing between the canonical and compatibility forms depends entirely on whether the text is being compared or shown.
Invisible characters survive copy and paste
Text pasted from a word processor, a website or a design document routinely carries zero width spaces, non breaking spaces, soft hyphens and direction marks. None of them is visible and all of them break exact matching, defeat a trim, and occasionally break a parser. Word processors also substitute smart quotes and em dashes, which are correct in prose and break a code snippet or a configuration file pasted from the same document.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Which normalisation form should I use?
NFC for storage and display, because it produces the composed form most systems expect and preserves appearance. NFKC for search indexes and comparison keys, because it also folds compatibility variants such as full width characters and ligatures. Never NFKC on text you will display unchanged.
What is the difference between NFC and NFD?
NFC composes characters into single code points where one exists, so e with an acute becomes one character. NFD decomposes into a base letter plus combining marks. They render identically and compare as different, which is why applying one consistently matters.
Why does my search not find a record?
Frequently because the stored and searched strings use different normalisation forms. macOS historically stored filenames in NFD while most other systems use NFC, so text copied between them differs at the byte level while looking identical.
Are smart quotes a problem?
In prose they are correct typography. In code, configuration files and command lines they are a common cause of syntax errors, because a word processor substitutes them silently and the resulting character is not the quote a parser expects.
What does accent folding do?
It strips diacritics, turning café into cafe. It is useful for search and for generating URL slugs, and it destroys information in text meant to be read, since it changes spelling and can alter meaning in languages where the accent is not decorative.
Privacy & Security
Everything runs in your browser; nothing is uploaded.
How to Use
Paste text and choose the normalisations to apply before storing or comparing it.
Disclaimer: This tool is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind. Results are for educational and utility purposes.
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