How can I highlight the invisible Unicode character &# 65279; in Visual Studio Code?

Question

Sometimes, I (in release) find this character. So, how can I highlight it in Visual Studio Code?

PS: I know about UTF-8 without a BOM, but to fix it, I need to open a page with the code in Notepad++ and change encoding. And I want to see this Unicode character in Visual Studio Code somehow highlighted, so I can see it (and delete it later).

Answer 1

How it works

1. I add extension Gremlins
   

2. and in C:\Users\tomnolane.vscode\extensions\nhoizey.gremlins-0.6.2\extension.js, add this code:
   

    const gremlins = [
      {
       ...
      },
      {
        char: 'feff',
        regex: /\ufeff+/g,
        width: 0,
        message: 'Zero Width No-Break Space',
        backgroundColor: 'rgba(255,127,80,.5)',
        overviewRulerColor: 'rgba(255,127,80,1)',
      },
      {
        char: '2060',
        regex: /\u2060+/g,
        width: 0,
        message: 'Word Joiner',
        backgroundColor: 'rgba(255,127,80,.5)',
        overviewRulerColor: 'rgba(255,127,80,1)',
      },
      {
        char: 'fffe',
        regex: /\ufffe+/g,
        width: 0,
        message: 'Not a Character',
        backgroundColor: 'rgba(255,127,80,.5)',
        overviewRulerColor: 'rgba(255,127,80,1)',
      },
    ]
   

3. then, reload Visual Studio Code and it works!

Answer 2

With the new setting: Editor > Unicode Highlight: Invisible Characters set to true or deriveFromWorkspaceTrust.

In file settings.json

"editor.unicodeHighlight.invisibleCharacters": true,

the Unicode character U+200B (zero-width space character) will be highlighted.

See more at How can I find Unicode characters that are not UTF-8 in Visual Studio Code?.