Character Remover
Use the CaseSwitch Character Remover to delete digits, punctuation, symbols, or a custom character set from pasted text in one pass. Type what to strip, review the live result, and copy it. Removal runs in this browser — nothing is uploaded.
Written by the CaseSwitch editorial team. We maintain these tools in the browser so drafts, keys, and images stay on your device.
Last reviewed: 23 July 2026
Processed locally in your browser. Nothing is sent to a server.
Paste or type text to convert. Output stays empty until there is input.
Character count: 0 · Word count: 0 · Line count: 0
Examples
Remove "," (characters)
Input
a,b,c 12!
Output
abc 12!
Remove vowels (characters "aeiouAEIOU")
Input
Beautiful day!
Output
Btfl dy!
Remove digits (characters "-" + removeDigits)
Input
Call 555-0100 now
Output
Call now
Remove punctuation (characters "." + removePunctuation)
Input
Wait... really?!
Output
Wait really
Remove spaces (characters " ")
Input
a b c
Output
abc
Remove symbols (characters "✨" + removeSymbols)
Input
Nice ✨ work ★
Output
Nice work
How to use
- Paste the text and fill Characters to remove with at least one character you want gone (required).
- Optionally enable Remove digits, Remove punctuation, and/or Remove symbols for whole classes.
- Copy the cleaned result, or continue into another tool in this suite.
What this tool is for
Exports, OCR dumps, and form fields often contain characters you do not want in the next step: commas in a slug candidate, digits in a label, emoji in a title, or a separator you already finished using. This tool removes those characters surgically and leaves everything else in the original order. It is a delete-class cleaner, not a find-and-replace phrase editor and not a duplicate-line tool.
How it works
Characters to remove is required: every character you type there is deleted wherever it appears (regex metacharacters in that field are escaped). Optional flags add whole classes: Remove digits (`\d`), Remove punctuation (Unicode punctuation `p{P}`), and Remove symbols (Unicode symbols `p{S}`). Matching characters are removed in one pass. Whitespace is kept unless you put spaces or tabs in the delete set. Accented letters are still letters — they are not stripped by the symbols flag.
When to use it
Cleaning invoice numbers out of a description, removing emoji from a slug candidate, stripping punctuation before a frequency count, deleting a separator from a pasted column, and preparing a string for a case converter when leftover marks would become part of a token.
When not to use it
Do not use it to redact secrets you still keep in clipboard history. Do not strip hyphens from kebab-case if you still need a URL. Prefer the Duplicate Line Remover for whole-line uniqueness, and Find and Replace when you need to swap a phrase rather than delete a class.
How it compares to related tools
The Whitespace Remover collapses spaces and blank lines without deleting letters. The Plain Text Converter and Remove Text Formatting target markdown and HTML markers. Find and Replace is better for phrase swaps. The Em Dash Remover only replaces typographic dashes.
Common mistakes
Removing digits from addresses and losing house numbers. Deleting punctuation that was the only sentence boundary. Assuming “symbols” includes letters with diacritics (it does not). Putting a letter in Characters to remove while also enabling a class flag and wondering why that letter vanished from words.
Character set versus class flags
The Characters to remove field is a literal set: each code point you type is deleted. Class flags widen the net to every digit, every punctuation mark, or every symbol in the Unicode categories the engine uses. You can combine them — for example a hyphen in the set plus Remove digits to clear phone-number noise. Empty Characters to remove is rejected with an error even if a flag is on, so always put at least one character in the field when you rely on flags alone.
What stays behind
Letters (including accented letters), leftover spaces, and any character you did not select stay in order. Deleting commas does not collapse the gaps they left unless those gaps were the commas themselves. Run the Whitespace Remover afterward if you need tidy spacing. Empty input with a valid delete set still yields empty output.
Frequently asked questions
Can I remove only commas?+
Yes. Type a comma in Characters to remove. Leave the class flags off if you want every other punctuation mark kept.
Why must I enter a character even when I only want digits gone?+
The Characters to remove field is required by the processor. Put any placeholder you do not mind deleting (or one that is absent from the text) and enable Remove digits.
Does Remove symbols delete accented letters?+
No. Accented letters stay. Symbols cover Unicode symbol characters such as currency signs and many dingbats, not letters.
Will this collapse double spaces after deletions?+
No. Gaps left behind stay until you run the Whitespace Remover or manually trim.
Is this safe for passwords or secrets?+
Processing stays local, but deleted characters may still sit in clipboard history. Do not paste live secrets into a shared screen.
Is my text uploaded?+
No. Removal runs in this browser. Nothing is sent to a server to strip characters.
Does CaseSwitch upload this text?+
No. Conversion, cleaning, and counting for this page run in your browser. Drafts are not sent to CaseSwitch for processing.
Related tools
Whitespace Remover
Cleaning CSV cells, tightening pasted UI copy, normalizing Slack or email spacing before a character count, and preparing text for a case converter or duplicate-line pass when padding would create false unique lines.
Remove Text Formatting
Cleaning chat messages that used *bold*, turning a Markdown outline into a meeting agenda, preparing text for a case converter, and peeling markers from a CMS paste.
Plain Text Converter
Pasting a README snippet into Slack as plain text, cleaning a CMS export, preparing copy for a system that escapes HTML badly, and getting unstyled words ready for a case converter.
Duplicate Line Remover
Deduping email lists, unique-ifying a keyword list, cleaning a changelog pasted twice, preparing a column for import, and removing repeated headers from a log extract. Use it when duplicates are exact line repeats and you want to keep original order. Pair with the Whitespace Remover first if trailing spaces or mixed tabs make visually identical lines look different to you but not to the tool.
Remove Line Breaks
PDF copy-paste, OCR output, old plain-text emails, chat logs wrapped at a fixed width, and comments that wrapped at column 80 when you wanted a single string for a CMS or spreadsheet cell.
Find and Replace Text
Renaming a term across a draft, normalizing spelling variants, stripping a repeated prefix, fixing a typo that appears dozens of times, and small regex cleanups (optional digits, `colou?r`-style variants, capture-friendly patterns). Test on a short sample before pasting a long document.