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Character Counter

Count characters, words, sentences, paragraphs, and lines as you type. Check a limit or count just the characters and words you care about.

Characters
0
Words
0
Sentences
0
Paragraphs
0
Lines
0
No whitespace
0

Select part of your text to count it separately. All panels follow the selected scope.

Text stays in this tab. It isn't uploaded, saved, or included in share links.

Counting options

Whitespace includes spaces, tabs, and line breaks. Lines count actual line breaks, including empty lines. Paragraphs are separated by blank lines. Sentence and word boundaries use your browser's text segmentation, so abbreviations and languages can affect the results. Older browsers fall back to code points and simpler word and sentence rules.

Count only...

Find specific characters, words, or phrases in your text.

0matching characters

Add a target to see its count.

Writing limit

Set your own limit for a caption, form, or assignment.

Uses the count above. A destination's emoji or whitespace rules may differ.

Text breakdown

Letters
0
Numbers
0
Whitespace
0
Symbols & other
0
Nonempty lines
0
Unique words
0
Unicode code points
0
UTF-16 code units
0
UTF-8 bytes
0

Approximate reading time at 200 words/min: 0 sec

Most used words

Top 10, ignoring case. Includes common words like "the" and "and."

Your most used words will appear here.

How to use this tool

  1. Paste or type your text

    Enter your draft in the editor. Character, word, sentence, paragraph, and line totals update as you type.

  2. Choose what to count

    Use the full document or select a passage and choose Selected text. Counting options let you include whitespace and choose visible characters or code points.

  3. Check custom matches or a limit

    Add specific characters, words, or phrases to Count only. Set a character or word limit to see how much space remains.

  4. Copy your results

    Copy your text or the counts before leaving the page. Nothing you enter is saved automatically.

About this tool

The Character Counter gives you a live view of your text's length and structure. Use it for a short caption, an application response, a writing assignment, or a draft you're editing. The main cards show characters, words, sentences, paragraphs, lines, and characters without whitespace. You don't need an account or a submit button.

The custom counter helps with a different question: how often does a particular letter, word, or phrase appear? Enter several targets and see each result separately. Match case when capitalization matters, or turn off whole word matching to count text inside longer words. All panels can also count a selected passage rather than the full document.

Choose the character count that fits your task

Visible character mode keeps combined emoji and accented letters together when browser segmentation is available. Unicode code point mode exposes their underlying components. The breakdown also shows UTF-16 code units and UTF-8 bytes. These measurements answer different questions. A destination may enforce a different rule, so use its own counter for a final submission check.

See structure and repetition

Paragraphs count nonempty blocks separated by blank lines. Lines count actual line breaks, including empty lines, instead of visual wrapping. The most used words panel lists ten frequent words without filtering out common words. Use it to spot repetition, then inspect the surrounding sentences before deciding what to rewrite.

Keep control of your draft

Your text and custom search terms stay in this tab and aren't added to URLs or saved automatically. Copy the draft or its counts before reloading. A shared link opens an empty tool, and an embedded preview shows a fixed example with a link to the full counter.

Character and word counting guides

Learn what each count includes and choose the right rule for your draft.

Characters without spaces
Compare the full character count with a count that excludes all whitespace.
View details ➜
Word counter
Count the words in a draft and understand why different editors can disagree.
View details ➜
Sentence counter
Review sentence totals without treating every punctuation mark as a new sentence.
View details ➜

Frequently asked questions

Does the character count include spaces?
Yes, the main count includes spaces, tabs, and line breaks by default. The No whitespace card excludes all of them. Open Counting options to change the main count. Windows and classic Mac line endings are normalized to one line break.
Can I count only certain characters or words?
Yes. In Count only, type characters together or enter one word or phrase per line. You can match case and choose whole words or substring matches. Duplicate targets are counted once. Matches don't overlap within one target, but separate targets can match the same text.
What's the difference between a line and a paragraph?
A line ends at a line break. Empty lines and a final line break count toward the line total. A paragraph is a nonempty block separated from the next block by a blank line. Visual wrapping in the editor doesn't add lines or paragraphs.
How are emoji, words, and sentences counted?
Visible character mode groups a complete emoji or an accented letter as one character when your browser supports it. Code point mode counts the underlying Unicode code points. Word and sentence boundaries use browser text segmentation with an English locale. Abbreviations and languages can affect counts. Older browsers use simpler fallback rules. See Unicode text segmentation for the underlying boundary concepts.
Is my text uploaded or saved?
Counting runs in your browser. This tool doesn't upload or save your text and doesn't put it or your custom search terms in the URL. Share links open an empty counter. Copy text or counts if you want to keep them before closing or reloading the tab.
Can I count just part of my text?
Select text in the editor, then choose Selected text. The counts, custom matches, writing limit, breakdown, and word frequency panel all use that selection. Choose Full text to return to the entire document.

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Use this tool on your own site

Drop the Character Counter into your blog, docs, or CMS with one iframe snippet. Free, no signup. See all embeddable tools