zwsp_codec

zwsp_codec is a small module that allows you to encode and decode arbitrary buffers and strings to a representation purely made of zero-width spaces. This can be useful if you want to transmit additional data while not making your URL a lot longer. The spaces used are guaranteed to work in URLs at least for Discord. If there are other messaging apps where these work, let me know, and I'll add them to this description.

An example link with included zero-width spaces

Obviously you can't see it, but the zero-width spaces after https://example.com/ would be decoded to Hello, world!.

Getting started

Install the package from npm:

npm install zwsp_codec

Then you can use the module in your programs:

// ES6
import { encodeZwsp, decodeZwsp } from 'zwsp_codec';

// Node.js
const { encodeZwsp, decodeZwsp } = require('zwsp_codec');

const buffer = Buffer.from('Hello, world!');
const encodedFromBuffer = encodeZwsp(buffer);
encodedFromBuffer // -> '\u200c\u2060\u200c\u200b\u200c\u200d\u200c\u200c\u200c\u2060\u200b\u2060\u200c\u2060\u200c\u200b'

const encodedFromString = encodeZwsp('Hello, world!');
encodedFromString === encodedFromBuffer // -> true

const decoded = decodeZwsp(encodedFromBuffer).toString('utf-8'); // -> 'Hello, world!'

encodeZwsp can encode both Buffers and Strings. The output is guaranteed to be the same for UTF-8.

decodeZwsp will always return a buffer, so if you want a string, you need to decode the buffer with decodeZwsp(encoded).toString('utf-8').

License

zwsp_codec is licensed under the WTFPL. For more information, see the LICENSE file.