git: fatal: I don't handle protocol '​​http'

I copied and pasted the whole line git clone http://....

The character between git clone and http://... looks like a space, but it is a special Unicode character!

Short answer: After removing this character, and entering a real space, it worked!

For people who love details: I see two ways to reveal ascii vs special-unicode-characters

Way1: Python

Here is the real line:

vi t.txt # copy+paste the line
python
open('t.txt').read()
git clone \xe2\x80\x8b\xe2\x80\x8bhttp://...

Way2: less

vi t.txt # copy+paste the line
LESSCHARSET=ascii less vi.txt

If it looks like git clone <E2><80><8B><E2><80><8B>http://, then you copy+pasted special-unicode-characters.


Use backspace to delete whatever there is between git clone and the url and then use spacebar to add a clean space between them. Simple as that.


I simply added 5 "SPACE"s between clone and the url:

  git clone     ​https://<PATH>/<TO>/<GIT_REPO>.git

and it works!