Character Count
A tool that measures the character, word, line, and byte (UTF-8) counts of your text in real time, right in your browser. Nothing is ever sent to a server.
How to use
- Type or paste the text you want to measure into the text area.
- As you type, the character count, character count (no spaces), word count, line count, and byte count (UTF-8) update in real time.
- Use "Copy to clipboard" to copy your input, or "Clear" to reset it.
About this tool
The character count tool measures the character, word, line, and byte counts of your text in real time, right in your browser. It's useful for drafting web copy, checking character limits for social media posts, and confirming word counts for reports or papers.
"Characters" is the total character count of the text, and "Characters (no spaces)" excludes spaces and line breaks. "Bytes (UTF-8)" accounts for the fact that full-width characters like Japanese take up multiple bytes per character, giving you a useful estimate of actual file size or data volume.
Invisible characters picked up when copying and pasting, such as zero-width spaces, are also counted as characters. If a count looks off, check for and remove them with the Japanese Text Normalizer & Invisible Character Detector.
Enter “猫 cat” to get 5 characters, 4 characters without spaces, 2 words, 1 line, and 7 UTF-8 bytes. This small example shows why a character limit and a byte limit can mean different things when a draft mixes Japanese and English.
The character total counts JavaScript UTF-16 units, so “😀” appears as 2 characters and 4 bytes. A publishing service may count visible characters differently; check its own counter when your draft includes emoji.
Frequently asked questions
Are line breaks and spaces counted as characters?
Yes, "Characters" includes line breaks and spaces. If you want the count without them, check the "Characters (no spaces)" value.
How is the byte count calculated?
It calculates the number of bytes when the text is encoded as a UTF-8 byte sequence. Half-width alphanumeric characters are 1 byte each, but full-width characters like Japanese are typically 3 bytes each, so the character count and byte count won't match.
How is the word count determined?
It counts the number of chunks separated by whitespace (spaces or line breaks). Note that for text without spaces between words, such as Japanese, the entire text may be counted as a single word.
Is my input text sent to a server?
No. Counting is done entirely with JavaScript in your browser.