computer science

Zalgo text

Zalgo text is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Zalgo text rather than just read about it. In short: Zalgo text, also known as cursed text or glitch text, is digital text that has been modified with numerous Unicode combining characters—symbols used to add diacritics above or below letters—to appear frightening or glitchy. Named for a 2004 Internet creepypasta story that ascribes it to the influence of an eldritch deity, Zalgo text has become a significant component of many Internet memes, particularly in the "surr…

Key takeaways

Zalgo text belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Zalgo text to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Zalgo text from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Zalgo text, also known as cursed text or glitch text, is digital text that has been modified with numerous Unicode combining characters—symbols used to add diacritics above or below letters—to appear frightening or glitchy. Named for a 2004 Internet creepypasta story that ascribes it to the influence of an eldritch deity, Zalgo text has become a significant component of many Internet memes, particularly in the "surreal meme" culture. The formatting of Zalgo text also allows it to be used to halt or impair certain computer functions, whether intentionally or not.

History

Zalgo text was pioneered in 2004 by a Something Awful forum member who created image macros of glitched or distorted cartoon characters exclaiming "Zalgo!" The text in the images was often distorted, and the style of the distortion became popularised as "Zalgo text". The characters were often depicted bleeding from their eyes, and forum members interpreted Zalgo as an unimaginable, eldritch apocalyptic figure.

Usage

Zalgo text is generated by excessively adding various diacritical marks in the form of Unicode combining characters to the letters in a string of digital text. Historically, it has primarily been used in horror or creepypasta Internet memes. Its seemingly improperly rendered or glitched-out characters make it prevalent amongst memes intended to make the reader's device appear to be malfunctioning. Zalgo text has become popular in the world of "surreal memes", which are intended to come across as bizarre or absurd. A common signifier of surreal memes, Zalgo text ties in with an overall aesthetic sensibility of the strange and impossible that includes elements such as clip art and strange-looking recurring characters but refuses to represent real-world elements such as real people or brands.

Zalgo text has also been used or alluded to outside of Internet memes. A fan-made campaign logo for the Michael Bloomberg 2020 presidential campaign, originally mistaken for an official logo, was described as closely resembling Zalgo text. In 2020, a teenager and TikTok creator submitted the word "hamburger" in Zalgo text for his school yearbook caption; when the yearbook was printed, the text overlapped his photograph and that of the student below him. In addition to innocuous uses, Zalgo text has been used maliciously to crash or overwhelm messaging apps. Some versions of the Apple Messages app are unable to properly handle Zalgo text, and will crash if they try to render a message that contains such text. (See also "effective power" (bug).) This behavior has been used to perform denial-of-service attacks against iOS users. Similarly, Zalgo messages sent over Gmail have caused crashes.

Influence Zalgo text has led to the creation of other Internet-based glitch art. Performance artist Laimonas Zakas was inspired by Zalgo text to create Glitchr, a Facebook page that intentionally modifies and glitches Facebook code. Though the most influential aspect of the original Zalgo creepypasta is the modified text characters, other aspects of the story have been popular as well. Fans of the story have conceptualized Zalgo as "either an unseen supernatural force, a secret cabal, or perhaps even an evil demigod" and compared it to the Great Old Ones in the work of H. P. Lovecraft. Fan art depictions of Zalgo have included drawings and short films.

See also List of creepypastas Lovecraftian horror – Subgenre of horror Universal Character Set characters – Complete list of the characters available on most computers

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Zalgo text

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Zalgo text claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Zalgo text before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Zalgo text ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Zalgo text

In research: Zalgo text appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Zalgo text in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Zalgo text is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Creepypastas, Diacritics, Internet memes introduced in 2004, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Zalgo text outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Zalgo text in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Zalgo text means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Zalgo text out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Zalgo text in simple terms?

Why does Zalgo text matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Zalgo text?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Zalgo text.