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Show invisible and non-printable characters #2530

Description

@datlechin

Problem

A value holding a zero-width space, a non-breaking space, a BOM or a stray \r renders identically to a clean one. A row that will not match a WHERE clause looks exactly right in the grid, and the cause is invisible in the cell editor too.

Proposed solution

  • A View option to show invisibles in the grid, the cell viewer and the SQL editor, drawing them as visible glyphs in a muted colour.
  • Cover the ones that actually cause this: zero-width space and joiner, non-breaking space, BOM, soft hyphen, bidi controls, and lone \r.
  • Show a byte count beside the character count in the cell viewer, so a mismatch is visible without turning the option on.
  • A warning in the cell viewer when a value holds a bidi control, since those can reorder what is displayed.

Alternatives considered

SELECT hex(col) to see what is really there.

Related database type

N/A / General

Activity

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