Unicode Strikethrough Text — How It Works

What is a Unicode combining character?

Unicode encodes not just visible glyphs but also modifier code points called combining characters. A combining character has zero width on its own; it attaches visually to the base character that precedes it in the string. The Unicode standard defines dozens of combining marks for accents, diacritics, and overlays.

When text rendering engines — operating systems, browsers, mobile apps — encounter a combining character, they draw its graphical effect over the adjacent glyph. Because the combination is encoded in the string itself, no markup language is needed. The effect travels with the text wherever it is pasted.

This is fundamentally different from HTML's <s> or <del> tags or CSS's text-decoration: line-through, which require a rendering engine that understands HTML and CSS. A plain text field in a mobile app will never render those tags — but it will correctly render a Unicode combining strikethrough.

The four strikethrough code points

Several Unicode code points produce strikethrough-like effects. Each has a distinct visual character suited to different contexts.

The most widely used is U+0336, which produces the clean horizontal strikethrough recognized instantly in any language.

How the text string is built

To apply a combining strikethrough to a word, the generator inserts the combining character after every base character. For the word sale, the resulting string looks like this at the code-unit level:

s + U+0336 + a + U+0336 + l + U+0336 + e + U+0336

Rendered: s̶a̶l̶e̶

The string has eight code points but the visible character count remains four. Text editors and search engines that are not Unicode-aware may count the combining characters separately, but any modern renderer collapses them into the visual representation of the base character.

Spaces can be treated the same way (' ' + U+0336 = a struck space) but on most platforms the combining character on a space is not visible because there is no ink to draw the line through. The generator therefore skips spaces by default and applies the overlay only to letters and digits.

Platform compatibility

Unicode support is essentially universal in 2026. Every major operating system (Windows, macOS, iOS, Android) and every mainstream application (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord, Instagram, Twitter/X, TikTok, LinkedIn) renders Unicode combining characters correctly as long as the font in use includes the relevant glyphs.

• Discord — works in messages, status, username display names, and server bios. Discord also supports native ~~strikethrough~~ markdown in messages, but that markdown does not work in names or profile fields.
• Instagram — works in captions, comments, bio, story text overlays copied from another app. The app does not strip combining characters before storing or displaying them.
• Twitter / X — works in tweets, replies, display names and bio. The character limit counts each code point individually, so struck text costs roughly twice the character budget of plain text.
• WhatsApp — works in messages. WhatsApp also has its own native strikethrough using tildes (~text~), but the Unicode variant works in contact names and group descriptions where tilde formatting is unavailable.
• Facebook — works in posts and comments. Facebook does not support any native markdown strikethrough, so the Unicode combining method is the only way to produce struck text in plain Facebook text fields.
• LinkedIn — works in posts, bio, and messages. LinkedIn's rich-text editor supports formatting but LinkedIn's plain text areas render the Unicode combining characters correctly.

Screen readers and accessibility

One important consideration: most screen readers read combining-character text as plain text without announcing the strikethrough effect. If you are striking through text to convey that content has been removed or is incorrect — for example, showing a corrected price — users relying on assistive technology may not receive that contextual information.

For content where the struck-through meaning is semantically important (corrections, editorial deletions), prefer HTML's <del> or <s> element in contexts that support it, and reserve the Unicode method for decorative use in social media bios, usernames, and informal messages.

Character counting and platform limits

Twitter/X counts each Unicode code point toward the 280-character limit. Since the combining method inserts one extra code point per base character, a 10-character struck word costs 20 characters of the limit rather than 10. Plan accordingly when composing tweets with heavy strikethrough use.

Instagram's caption limit is 2,200 characters. If you use combining characters, the effective word budget is roughly halved for struck sections. For bios (150 character limit), keep the struck portion short.