Unicode Character Inspector

Complete Unicode Character Analysis Tool

Our Unicode Character Inspector is the most comprehensive free tool for analyzing and decoding Unicode characters. Whether you're a web developer debugging character encoding issues, a software engineer working with international text, or a technical writer documenting special characters, our inspector provides all the information you need in one place.

What is Unicode and Why Does It Matter?

Unicode is the universal character encoding standard that assigns a unique number (code point) to every character in every language. With over 140,000 characters covering 150+ scripts, Unicode enables computers to consistently represent and manipulate text from any writing system. Understanding Unicode is essential for modern software development, especially when building international applications or debugging character encoding problems.

Understanding Unicode Code Points

A Unicode code point is written as "U+" followed by a hexadecimal number. For example, the bullet point character • has the code point U+2022. Our inspector instantly shows you the code point for any character you paste, along with its decimal equivalent (8226 for the bullet point). This information is crucial when you need to reference specific characters in documentation or when debugging encoding issues.

UTF-8, UTF-16, and UTF-32 Encoding Explained

Unicode characters can be encoded in different formats. UTF-8 is the most common encoding on the web, using 1-4 bytes per character. UTF-16 uses 2 or 4 bytes and is the standard for Windows and Java. UTF-32 uses exactly 4 bytes per character. Our Unicode Inspector shows all three encoding formats, helping you understand how characters are stored in different systems and debug encoding conversion issues.

HTML Entity Codes for Web Development

When working with HTML, you can represent special characters using entity codes. Our tool provides three formats: named entities (like • for •), decimal entities (like •), and hexadecimal entities (like •). Named entities are more readable but only exist for common characters. Decimal and hexadecimal entities work for any Unicode character, making them essential for displaying special symbols in web pages.

CSS Content Property and Unicode

CSS allows you to insert Unicode characters using the content property with ::before and ::after pseudo-elements. Our inspector shows the correct CSS syntax (like content: "\2022";) for any character. This is perfect for adding decorative bullets, arrows, or icons without using images or icon fonts. The backslash notation tells CSS to interpret the following hex digits as a Unicode code point.

JavaScript Unicode Escape Sequences

In JavaScript, you can represent Unicode characters using escape sequences. Our tool provides the correct format (like "\u2022" for the bullet point) that you can use directly in your JavaScript strings. For characters beyond the Basic Multilingual Plane, we also show the String.fromCodePoint() syntax. This is essential when you need to programmatically generate or manipulate special characters in your code.

Python Unicode String Literals

Python 3 uses Unicode strings by default, and our inspector shows you two ways to represent characters: using escape sequences (like "\u2022") or the chr() function (like chr(0x2022)). Both methods produce the same result, but escape sequences are more compact while chr() is more explicit. This is particularly useful when processing international text or working with character-based data.

Java Character Representation

Java uses UTF-16 encoding internally, and our tool shows you the correct Java syntax for representing Unicode characters. You can use escape sequences in string literals (like "\u2022") or the Character.toString() method for programmatic character creation. This is essential for Java developers working with internationalization or processing text data.

Unicode Categories and Blocks

Every Unicode character belongs to a category (like "Punctuation, Other" or "Symbol, Mathematical") and a block (like "General Punctuation" or "Arrows"). Our inspector displays this information, helping you understand the character's purpose and find related characters. This is particularly useful when you need to validate input, filter characters by type, or understand character properties for text processing.

Common Use Cases for Unicode Inspector

Developers use our Unicode Inspector for various tasks: debugging character encoding issues when text appears corrupted, finding the correct HTML entity for special symbols in web pages, getting code snippets for programming languages, understanding character properties for input validation, documenting special characters in technical specifications, and learning about Unicode standards and encoding formats. The tool is free, requires no installation, and works entirely in your browser.

Why Choose Our Unicode Character Inspector?

Unlike basic character maps or manual Unicode table lookups, our inspector provides comprehensive information in a single view. You get the Unicode code point, official character name, category and block information, all three UTF encoding formats (UTF-8, UTF-16, UTF-32), HTML entity codes in all formats, CSS content property syntax, and ready-to-use code snippets for HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Python, and Java. Every value has a one-click copy button, saving you time and preventing transcription errors.

Understanding Character Encoding Issues

Character encoding problems are common in software development. Text might appear as question marks, boxes, or garbled characters when the wrong encoding is used. Our Unicode Inspector helps you diagnose these issues by showing the exact byte sequence for each encoding format. Compare the UTF-8 bytes in your data with the expected values to identify encoding mismatches. This is invaluable when working with databases, file systems, or network protocols that use different encodings.

Best Practices for Using Unicode in Code

When using Unicode characters in your code, follow these best practices: Always specify the encoding explicitly (UTF-8 is recommended for most cases). Use named HTML entities when available for better code readability. In CSS, use the backslash notation for Unicode characters in the content property. In JavaScript, use escape sequences for characters that might not display correctly in your editor. In Python and Java, ensure your source files are saved with UTF-8 encoding. Our inspector provides the correct syntax for each language, making it easy to follow these best practices.

Free Unicode Tools for Developers

Our Unicode Character Inspector is completely free to use with no registration required. It's part of our suite of free developer tools designed to make working with special characters easier. Whether you're looking up a single character or analyzing multiple symbols, our tool provides instant results with comprehensive information. The tool works entirely in your browser, so your data never leaves your computer, ensuring privacy and security.