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I was just reading a post and saw some odd text effects, however I cannot locate how it is achieved or what it is called:

P̢̢̲̭̘̣̪͉͞͞h̴̛̫͉͖̜͙̳͎̕͞͠'̶̀͢҉̯̞̹͈ṉ̶̘̠̯̬̭̖̳͘͞ģ̵̛͠҉̰̝͇̩͍̗͍̘̫͈̺̭̥͉l̨͍̘͔̰͔̖͍̹̠̭̱̰̖͙̦̦͎̕͟u̢̡҉̲̭̲̺̮̖͖͖i̴̢̹̳͉͎̥̪̜͎̼̣̦̖̻͈̖͉͚ͅ ̵͏͇̗̭ͅm̶̨͍̤̪̱͇̤̬̥̥͔̼͍̠̼͕g̷̷̰̩͙̪̫͉̺̯͘͟͠ļ̶̭͇̘̮̕͢ẃ̵̸̷҉͕̬̠̥̤͖̙̲͇̼̹'̺̩̖̟̣͈̖͙̤̫̰̗̯̀͡ń̷̴̶̰̮̺͔̼̺̹̘̟a̷̰̪͙͇̤͓̤̭͎̦͕̻f͏̨͙̰̘͔̟̜̠͈̯̻͕̖̳̝̝́͘ͅḩ̴̛͉͉̲͇̠͙̣̩͙̩͚̮̼̺ͅ ̧̛̟͓̤͇̯͍̫͖͎͈̫̳͓̞͘Ç͘͏͈̹̠̙͎̳̯͚͔̼͙̻͔͖̲̩̹̕ͅt͏̖̲̤̫̤̫̼̪̥̠͙͚͍̭́ͅḩ̡̲͈̫̯͚͉̱͍̳͝ù̧͙̭̙̻̲̙͚͔̲̬͚͢͝͡ḻ̴̵̨̹͉͙̟̯̞̠͔̦̝̩͜h̶̼̜̦͖͍͎͍̕ṷ̴̶̢͙̗̬͇̯̞̗̰̣̬̥̲̣̦ ̵̲͍̩̭̩̗͈͚͟͝R͏̛͘͟҉̫̝̞̪̣̪̻̤̼͖̪͎'̛̯͚͎̳͎̼͓̘͉͢l͟҉̵̘͈͙̣̹̜͍͎̬̺̹̪̜̀y͏͓̞̬͙̥̞̦͎͖̞͖͎̖̀e̶̵̡̺͉̯̭̣̗h͇̺͇̖̼̻̟͓͜͟͜͞ͅ ̴̷̡̨̪͍̙̳̞̭̙̫̯̘͚͇͚̼͙͟w̧̮̜̯̭̘͈̫̳̖̕͜͠g̢̨̗͖̬̠͎͓̱̞͓̭̯̺͕̭̯̦ͅa̴̠̘̬̩͍͜ͅh̵̷̨̜̻͔̖͈̤͈̩͔͈͇̩̞̲̜̩͍̺'̸̨͇̞̜͈͟n̨͟͞҉̤͚͎͇̣̺͚̻̖͖́ͅà̻͉̙̲̲̞͘͝ģ̙̗̙͓̜̣͔̥̫͟͡l̴̨̨̼͚̫̞̙̳͙͢͟ ̢̦͚̲͇̞̺̗̫͇f̸̸̫̠͖͙̜͉̲͖͓̭͇̦̭̩̲͡͠ḩ̸̲̤͍̖̻̣̝̼́̕͝ͅt̴͝҉҉̵͔̮̞̪á̢̕͢͏̗̯̗̙͙͉̪͓͙̣̰̣g͏̶̡͓̤͍͖̜̠̜ͅn̴̶̛̝̼͉̠̻͓

Don't worry though, unless thousands read it I think we are safe.

H. Pauwelyn
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GMasucci
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    https://stackoverflow.com/questions/6579844/how-does-zalgo-text-work – Dave Carruthers Dec 12 '17 at 16:17
  • @DaveCarruthers It isn't that complicated. Just **parse some HTML with regular expressions** and ẕ̡̫̫̞̋̅̀́̈́͟͠á̢̢̢̛̝̳͚̤͈̺͔̆̏̈̇̄̽͘ļ̶̛͙͉͕̼̍͐̈́̾̿͟͟͞ͅg̷̠̤̫̺͕͚̺̝̐̐͆̑̂̑̈̊̈̕ö̶͕̞̖̻̬̮͇́̐͆̽̽͛͢͜͝ t̬͈̫͎̰̼̽̄̍͌̀̏͋̚͡ͅͅͅė̢̡̛̺͖̳͙̞̊̾̆̈́̓̓͟͠x̶̡̪͔̻̫̗͖̺͕̰́̾̆͐͡t̨͉̦̗̱̥̝͑̑̇̍͘͟ w̶̢̧̮͇͖̫̠͎͉̓̈́̓͂̚͜į̖̺͎͇͙͖̎͂͐̒̊͛́͢͝͞l̶̛̼̲̹̝̓̈̓̊͘͜l̷̢͉̯͍̼͎̦̹̠͂̇̔̅̊̋͡ s̷̳̬͇̥̮͛̃̐̚͟͞͡͝͝h̵̨̨̝̟͉̘̩̜̲͗̈́̌̐̈́̂́̚͢o̧͖̹̩̠̟̗͍̾͒͑͞͠w̢̹͍̳͉͈͂͌̔͒͊͘ u̴̺̘͓͇̘̥̾̓͐́̔̅̏̕͝ṗ̶̼̦͚̙̜͙̘̗̥̑͗̀̒̋̓̔.̵̢̡̼̝̐̊̉̅̾͜. – iBug Dec 12 '17 at 16:23
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    P̘̥͉͙̬̣o̵̙s̶̯͚̰̼̬̺s̮̦͓̠̯͖̗ḭ̟̻̗̝b͙͘l̺̞̲e̞̥̱̙̦̗ ̢̺͇͉͉͕͎̣d̠͍̫͎͉ͅu̙̣̩̙̘̬̠p̦̲̣ͅl͇̞͈̲̩̙i͟c̷̣a̦̪t͖̭͠e͖͓̝̺̠̮̯ ҉͍͓o͉̖͍̮f̺̗̖͓͇̮ [Hò̻̣w̪ ̜̟͉̙͟ḑ͈͖o̝͖͝e͎͈͕̼̻̤͍s̗̰̰̠̖̯ ̪̦̟͚̳Z̷̠͓͉͔̹a̗̞̫̗͚̪͡lg̴̟̲͚̜̥̻o̳̣̰̖̗̫ ͕̠̦̲͉t͇͍̜e̮x͍͎̙͈͈͞ͅt̢̰̯̝̦̯ ̺͕wo̝͈̰͇̤r̲͉k?̭](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/6579844/how-does-zalgo-text-work) – JJJ Dec 12 '17 at 17:59

2 Answers2

3

It's called Zalgo text.

You can Google for an online generator and use it:

TH̘Ë͖́̉ ͠P̯͍̭O̚​N̐Y̡ H̸̡̪̯ͨ͊̽̅̾̎Ȩ̬̩̾͛ͪ̈́̀́͘ ̶̧̨̱̹̭̯ͧ̾ͬC̷̙̲̝͖ͭ̏ͥͮ͟Oͮ͏̮̪̝͍M̲̖͊̒ͪͩͬ̚̚͜Ȇ̴̟̟͙̞ͩ͌͝S̨̥̫͎̭ͯ̿̔̀ͅ

As a side note, don't try to parse HTML with RegEx.

iBug
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  • thanks, will accept your answer as soon as it allows me. Nice effect, never seen it before in 37 years of using a computer – GMasucci Dec 12 '17 at 16:15
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You can get a clue if you pick a sample and submit it to Unicode character inspector:

C  U+0043  LATIN CAPITAL LETTER C                Lu  Basic Latin
̧   U+0327  COMBINING CEDILLA                     Mn  Combining Diacritical Marks
͘   U+0358  COMBINING DOT ABOVE RIGHT             Mn  Combining Diacritical Marks
   U+034F  COMBINING GRAPHEME JOINER             Mn  Combining Diacritical Marks
̕   U+0315  COMBINING COMMA ABOVE RIGHT           Mn  Combining Diacritical Marks
͈   U+0348  COMBINING DOUBLE VERTICAL LINE BELOW  Mn  Combining Diacritical Marks
[…]

… where Lu stands for Unicode Character Category 'Letter, Uppercase' and Mn stands for Unicode Character Category 'Mark, Nonspacing'.

In short, they're just regular letters attached to all sort of combining diacritics, thanks to the magic of Unicode. It abuses the fact that é can also be written as e + ´ for entertainment purposes.

Álvaro González
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