Left-To-Right Mark is not a space at all. It is an invisible instruction that tells the text renderer which direction the surrounding characters should flow - the fix for text that comes out in the wrong order when Latin and Arabic or Hebrew are mixed.
Click the button above to copy Left-To-Right Mark, then paste it wherever you need it. Nothing will appear on your clipboard preview - that is expected, because the character is blank.
| Unicode code point | U+200E |
|---|---|
| Character name | Left-To-Right Mark |
| Unicode category | Cf (Format) - invisible, zero width |
| Rendered width | Zero - it is a formatting mark, not a space |
| Line breaking | Not applicable - it carries no width |
| Collapses in HTML | No |
| Survives trim() | Usually yes |
| HTML entity | |
| JavaScript escape | '\u200E' |
| CSS escape | \200E |
Need these values in another format? The HTML space characters converter turns any Unicode whitespace character into HTML entities, JavaScript escapes and CSS escapes.
U+200E LEFT-TO-RIGHT MARK, or LRM, is a zero-width formatting character with a strong left-to-right direction. It displays nothing. What it does is participate in the Unicode bidirectional algorithm, the rules every browser and operating system uses to decide the visual order of mixed-direction text.
The problem it solves is real and common. Characters like parentheses, quotation marks and punctuation have no inherent direction, so in mixed text the algorithm guesses from their neighbours - and often guesses wrong, leaving a bracket or a full stop at the wrong end of the line. Inserting an LRM next to the ambiguous character settles the question.
The same character can be preserved in one place and silently removed in another. Here is what actually happens to Left-To-Right Mark in the three contexts that matter most.
Renders as nothing and affects only direction. The HTML equivalent is or the dir attribute.
Usually survives trimming, but many sanitisers strip invisible format characters as a security measure.
Preserved by platforms that support bidirectional text, though some strip format characters from names and comments.
Not sure what is in a string you already have? Paste it into the invisible character detector to see every hidden character with its code point, or use remove invisible characters to strip them out.
Fixing the display order of mixed left-to-right and right-to-left text. It is a typographic repair tool, not a blank-text character.
If what you actually need is text that looks completely empty - a blank WhatsApp message, an empty Instagram highlight name, a blank comment or a Free Fire name space - then Hangul Filler is the character to use, because it is not classified as whitespace and survives the trimming that removes Left-To-Right Mark.
Different apps prefer different Unicode characters. Start with these combinations.
Best first choice: Hangul Filler (U+3164). Alternatives: Zero Width Space and No-Break Space.
Best first choice: Hangul Filler. Alternative for tighter formatting: Zero Width Space.
Start with Hangul Filler. If the game rejects it, try Space or No-Break Space.
Use No-Break Space for preventing line breaks, EN Space and EM Space for wider spacing, and Thin Space or Hair Space for finer adjustments. For code-ready values and conversion, see HTML Space Characters.
Width is the fastest way to choose between these characters. If Left-To-Right Mark is not right for your use case, one of these probably is.
| Character | Unicode | Width |
|---|---|---|
| Right-To-Left Mark | U+200F | Zero - it is a formatting mark, not a space |
| Space | U+0020 | Font-dependent, typically about 1/4 em |
| No-Break Space | U+00A0 | Same width as a regular space in the current font |
| Zero Width Space | U+200B | Zero - it occupies no horizontal space at all |
| EN Space | U+2002 | Exactly 1/2 em - half the current font size |
| EM Space | U+2003 | Exactly 1 em - equal to the current font size |
| Three-Per-Em Space | U+2004 | Exactly 1/3 em |
| Four-Per-Em Space | U+2005 | Exactly 1/4 em |
| Six-Per-Em Space | U+2006 | Exactly 1/6 em |
| Figure Space | U+2007 | Exactly the width of a digit in the current font |
See all 18 Unicode space and invisible characters compared →
No. It has zero width and adds no gap. It is a formatting character that influences text direction, and nothing else.
When punctuation or brackets appear at the wrong end of a line in text that mixes Latin with Arabic or Hebrew. Those characters have no direction of their own, so the bidirectional algorithm infers one - and an LRM tells it the right answer.
They are mirror images. LRM asserts left-to-right direction, RLM asserts right-to-left. Which one you need depends on which way the ambiguous character should face.
Explore the most useful guides on BlankText.Net for blank messages, Instagram, gaming nicknames, and Unicode spaces.