Zero-width and invisible
INVISIBLE TIMES (U+2062)
The invisible multiplication sign: the operator that is meant when you write "2x" and mean "2 times x".
- Codepoint
U+2062- Also written as
u2062\u2062⁢- Category
- Zero-width and invisible
- Removed by default
- Yes
- Governing option
- No option needed
- Can be load-bearing
- No
Copy and paste U+2062
To copy and paste INVISIBLE TIMES (U+2062), press the button: the character itself goes to your clipboard, and Ctrl+V (Cmd+V on a Mac) pastes it anywhere you can type.
Where it comes from
MathML, equation editors and scientific word processors. It reaches plain text by way of copy-paste out of a rendered formula.
Why it matters
It is invisible in prose and, sitting between two letters, it is indistinguishable from a zero width space to a reader, but it survives filters that only look for the zero-width family.
Before and after
The multiplication is there in the data and absent from the page.
The character is shown as a labelled chip so you can see where it sits. In your text it draws nothing at all.
When it is legitimate
Inside MathML, where "ab" must be read as a product rather than as a name.
How to remove it
The default pass removes it, together with the other three invisible operators. No option to enable, no context in which it is kept.
Working in a file rather than a paste? The document report for .docx, .odt and .html finds it inside the file, together with hidden runs and tracked changes, without you having to open it. If the question is what the rest of the writing does rather than what this one character does, measure sentence-length variation and see where each habit sits, with no score and no claim about who wrote the text.
Is it an AI watermark?
Used to hide data, but is not a watermark
No. It is maths markup that ends up in prose by accident, or a deliberate choice by a payload tool looking for a codepoint that naive filters miss.
A known carrier for deliberately hidden payloads. Someone put it there on purpose, which is a different question from who wrote the words.
Questions
Why does an invisible multiplication sign exist?
So that software can tell "2x" (two times x) from a variable literally named "2x", for screen readers and computer algebra systems.
Is it ever meaningful in ordinary text?
No. Outside a formula it carries no information, which is why the default pass removes it without asking.
Check your own text
Paste anything into the cleaner to see every hidden character it contains, with position, codepoint and what happens to each one. Nothing is uploaded.
Check your own textClean it in Chrome as you pasteClean it on your Mac with one keystrokeAll characters