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How to remove diacritics from Arabic text

You copied vocalized Arabic from a book or website and want to use it in a product description or a data file. Full vocalization makes search difficult, because a vocalized «مُحَمَّد» and a bare «محمد» are different words to a computer, even though a reader sees one word.

Published · 2 min read

Why do diacritics break search?

Every vowel mark in a text is a separate character to a computer. The vocalized «مُحَمَّد» carries 4 marks on its four letters: three vowels and a shadda. So someone searching for the bare «محمد» will not find it. Removing diacritics makes words match for search, matching and removing duplicates.

Worked example

The line: «قَالَ: مَرْحَبًا بِكُمْ فِي مَتْجَرِنَا!».

With the default groups, 15 marks are removed: 1 tanwin, 11 harakat and 3 sukun.

Result: «قال: مرحبا بكم في متجرنا!». The colon and the exclamation mark are unchanged.

Choose exactly what goes

  • Tanwin, harakat, shadda and sukun: on by default.
  • The superscript alef, as in «الرحمٰن»: off by default.
  • Other marks such as maddah and a separate hamza: off, because removing them can change a word's spelling.
  • Quranic annotation signs: off, because some are visible content, like the end-of-verse sign.

If you want to keep the shadda and remove the rest, turn off the shadda group only.

How to do it

  1. Open the Arabic diacritic remover and paste the vocalized text.
  2. Choose the diacritic groups to remove. Each group shows how many marks were found and removed.
  3. Check the result, then copy or download it.

What the tool does not do

  • It does not change letters: «أ», «إ» and «آ» are whole letters, not a letter plus a mark, so they stay as they are.
  • It does not merge alef forms, ya forms or ta marbuta.
  • It does not remove the tatweel. There is a separate tool for that: Arabic tatweel remover.

If you want the word and character count of the text after cleaning, use the Word and character counter.

Common questions

Does the tool remove hamza?

No. Letters with hamza like أ, إ, ؤ and ئ are separate letters and are never touched. A hamza typed as a separate mark is only removed if you turn on its group.

Is it suitable for Quranic text?

It can remove the vocalization, but note that the Quranic signs group includes visible signs like the end of a verse, which is why that group is off by default.

Is my text sent to a server?

No, everything happens inside your browser.