How does TextCleanr handle encoding, decoding, and text comparison?

TextCleanr handles encoding and decoding through a single Encoding dropdown that offers md5, uuencode, uudecode, base64 encode, and base64 decode, and it handles comparison through a separate Compare Text feature that shows the differences between two versions of text. Both run in the browser on the page itself, so they work on tablets and mobile devices as well as desktops. The site states it doesn't save or store any data you enter, which matters if you're converting text you'd rather not paste into a desktop app.

Encoding and decoding in TextCleanr

The encoding controls sit in the same options panel as the cleaning controls, so you paste text once and choose what to do with it. The available options are:

How to run a conversion

1. Paste your text into the input box on the TextCleanr page.
2. Open the Encoding dropdown and select the operation you need (for example, base64 Encode).
3. Read the result from the cleaned-text output.

The expected result is a converted string in the output area: readable text for a decode, an encoded or hashed string for an encode. Because the tool is described as web-based and usable on tablets and phones, you can do this from a mobile browser without installing anything.

When each option is the right choice

• Base64 encode/decode is the everyday case: moving text through systems that only accept plain ASCII, or reading a Base64 blob someone sent you.
• uuencode/uudecode is for older email or Usenet-style attachments and text blocks encoded in that format.
• md5 is a one-way hash, not an encoding. Use it to produce a fingerprint of text for comparison purposes; you can't reverse it to get the original back. If you need the text again, don't choose md5.

Text comparison in TextCleanr

The Compare Text feature is a separate mode from the cleaning panel. The site describes it as a way "to see the differences between two versions" of text, and lists it as a newer addition alongside the encoding options.

How to compare two versions

1. Switch to the Compare Text view.
2. Put the original version in one input and the revised version in the other.
3. Run the comparison and review the highlighted differences.

The expected result is a view of what changed between the two versions, which is useful for spotting edits in a revised paragraph, checking that a find-and-replace didn't touch anything unintended, or confirming two pasted blocks match.

A practical example: you paste a paragraph into a CMS, then paste the same paragraph after an editor's revisions. Comparing the two shows exactly which words changed, so you can accept or reject edits without rereading both versions line by line.

How the features fit with the rest of the tool

Encoding and comparison are part of a broader cleanup workflow on the same page. The main cleaning options cover:

• Email indents — do nothing or remove them, useful when pasting quoted email replies.
• Text case — all lowercase, all uppercase, capitalize all words, or sentence case.
• HTML — do nothing or remove brackets to characters.
• Line breaks — do nothing, remove all, or convert new lines to single spaces.
• Spaces — remove extra spaces and tabs, remove all spaces, or trim leading/trailing spaces.
• MS Word specific characters — leave them or replace them, for text pasted from Word.
• Unicode — leave it or remove it.
• URLs — leave them, remove them, shorten them via tiny.tw, or hyperlink them.
• Find and replace — a straightforward search-and-substitute field.

A common sequence is to clean first, then encode: paste text copied from Word, remove the Word-specific characters and extra spaces, then Base64 encode the result before pasting it into a system that mangles special characters. Doing it in one pass avoids exporting to a separate converter.

Limits worth knowing before you rely on it

• The site describes itself as "a work in progress tool," so treat it as a quick utility rather than a guaranteed-stable pipeline component.
• URL shortening is done through the Tiny.tw API, which is a separate service; the encoding and comparison features don't depend on it.
• The page states no data is saved or stored, but that's a statement about the tool's behavior, not a guarantee about your network or device. For sensitive material, decide based on your own requirements.
• No pricing or account details are given on the page, so don't assume the tool is free of limits or requires no login—check the site itself if that matters to you.

If your task is a one-off Base64 conversion, an MD5 fingerprint, or a quick diff between two drafts, TextCleanr's encoding dropdown and Compare Text view cover it in the browser. If you need repeatable, scriptable conversions at volume, a command-line tool will serve you better.