Emoji Cleaner

Emoji Cleaner is a Visual Studio Code extension that removes all emojis from your project files — safely. If you're tired of seeing random smileys, flags, invisible Unicode gremlins, or AI-generated emoji artifacts inside your code, this extension cleans them up without breaking your files.

No emojis. No corruption. No stress.

Repository

You can find the full source code, issues, and contribution guidelines here:

Repository: https://github.com/Cybugg/Emoji-Remover-VS-Code

Table of Contents

1. Features
2. Installation
3. Usage
4. How It Works
5. Supported File Types
6. Changelog
7. Contributing
8. License

Features

• Safely remove Unicode emojis from your entire workspace
• Safe JSON cleaning — prevents corruption in package.json, configs, etc.
• Supports complex emoji sequences (flags, skin tones, ZWJ emojis)
• Skips binaries and respects excluded folders
• Supports custom file extensions
• Output logs for transparency
• “Dry run” mode for previewing changes
• Fast, lightweight, and stable

Installation

From Marketplace

1. Open VS Code
2. Go to the Extensions panel
3. Search for Emoji Cleaner
4. Install it

From .vsix

code --install-extension emoji-cleaner-0.1.8.vsix

Usage

1. Open a workspace in VS Code
2. Press Ctrl + Shift + P (Windows/Linux) or Cmd + Shift + P (Mac)
3. Run:

Remove All Emojis From Project

4. The extension scans all supported files
5. A summary notification appears when finished

Tip: Always use version control or keep backups before mass-cleaning.

Performance

• Optimized for typical codebases

• Large monorepos may benefit from excluding folders like:

  • node_modules
  • dist
  • .git
  • .next

How It Works

Emoji Cleaner performs the following steps:

1. Recursively searches the workspace for supported file types
2. Applies ignore rules for folders/files you exclude
3. Reads each file
4. If JSON → parses it safely, sanitizing both keys and values
5. If text → applies the emoji regex
6. Writes updated content only if changes exist

Emoji Regex Used (Safe Version)

const EMOJI_REGEX =
  /(\p{Extended_Pictographic}|\p{Emoji_Presentation}|[\u{1F1E6}-\u{1F1FF}])+/gu;

Explanation

• \p{Extended_Pictographic} → matches visible emoji characters
• \p{Emoji_Presentation} → emoji-presenting characters
• \u{1F1E6}-\u{1F1FF} → regional flag indicators
• Works without stripping unrelated characters
• Prevents corruption often caused by overly broad emoji regex patterns

This ensures only actual emojis are removed — no false positives.

Supported File Types

• JavaScript / TypeScript → .js, .ts, .jsx, .tsx
• JSON → .json (fully safe mode)
• HTML / CSS → .html, .css
• Markdown / Text → .md, .txt
• YAML → .yml, .yaml

You can customize the list in VS Code settings.

Changelog

v0.1.7 — Major Stability Update

• Added JSON-safe cleaning
• Added ignore patterns (e.g., node_modules, .git, dist)
• Added custom file extension support
• Added dry-run mode
• Added detailed logs via Output Channel
• Fixed file traversal logic
• Improved emoji regex (no unwanted character removals)
• Fixed regex over-matching issues
• Updated README + extension metadata

Contributing

Contributions are welcome!

You can:

• Report bugs
• Suggest features
• Submit pull requests

Please follow standard GitHub workflows and include descriptions for clarity.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See LICENSE.md for details.