The doubled zero-width space in Android translations, and why it clusters after "EXIF"

说明与用途

Android 翻译中出现不可见的 U+200B 字符，尤其在 "EXIF" 后出现，导致搜索和比较功能受损。已在 122 个仓库、56 种语言中发现 703 条字符串。l10n-guard 可检测并删除这些字符。

问题

Invisible zero‑width spaces (U+200B) appear in Android translation strings, breaking search, comparison and wrapping.

结果

Zero‑width spaces cluster after "EXIF" in translations, occurring 1.59% of the time versus 0.0004% after other capital words; 3,900× more common. The issue is isolated to specific translation batches, not entire projects.

工作流

• Count invisible characters in all translation strings
• Identify strings with only U+200B
• Analyze pattern of space + two U+200B + word
• Measure frequency after "EXIF" versus other capital words
• Publish predictions and verify
• Provide l10n‑guard integration for CI detection
• Recommend removal of U+200B except in scripts that need them

证据

Seven in ten of those 703 strings have the same pattern: an ordinary space, then exactly two U+200B, then a word

来源

"EXIF" + space + word 2,517 units, 40 with the pair, 1.59%

来源

The pair is about 3,900 times as common after "EXIF" as after any other short capital word

来源

l10n-guard has flagged them in CI since 0.15.0 (invisible-char warning)

来源