How to show invisible characters in webstorm

Question

As many of you have probably come across the problem of cutting and pasting some code, which comes along with it some hidden characters often resulting in the dreaded UNEXPECTED_TOKEN_ILLEGAL

Is there a way within Webstorm to show/hide invisible characters?

Answer 1

Install and use Zero Width Characters locator plugin -- it can detect quite few invisible characters (eg UTF-8 BOOM sequence, non-breakable space etc).

It is implemented as separate inspection with highest (Error) severity so will be easy to spot or check whole folder/project just for these issues.

---

There is a ticket (Feature Request) to have an option to show invisible characters in editor.

https://youtrack.jetbrains.com/issue/IDEA-115572 -- watch this ticket (star/vote/comment) to get notified on any progress.