Text Tools
Count words, characters and lines
Word Counter counts the words, characters, characters without spaces and lines in the text you paste, and estimates the reading time, updated as you type. A word is any run of non-whitespace characters, as in wc -w, so double spaces never inflate the count. Characters are what a reader sees as one character, so an emoji or an accented letter built from several code points counts once. Writers use it to hit word limits and developers to check message lengths before posting.
How to use Word Counter
- Open Word Counter in the Toolbox101 app.
- Type or paste the text to count into the
Textbox; the totals update as you type. - Read the
Words,Chars,Chars (no spaces)andLinesfigures in theOutputbox, plusReading timewhen there are words. - Click
Copyto take the totals as text if you need to record them.
Worked example
Word Counter returns the output below for this input.
Input
The quick brown fox
jumps over the lazy dog.
This line has five words.Output
Words: 14
Chars: 71
Chars (no spaces): 57
Lines: 4
Reading time: about 1 minCheck it yourself: open Word Counter and enter the same input.
Frequently asked questions
Does the character count include spaces?
Chars counts every character, spaces and line breaks included, and Chars (no spaces) leaves the whitespace out. Both count what a reader sees as one character, so a thumbs-up with a skin tone counts as one. The String Inspector tool also reports the UTF-8 byte length and unique characters.
How are words counted when spacing is uneven?
A word is any run of non-whitespace characters, so repeated spaces, tabs and newlines never inflate the count: text with two spaces between words reports the same total as text with one. Outer whitespace is trimmed first, so stray spaces add no phantom words.
How is the line count worked out?
Every line counts, blank ones included, and a single newline at the very end does not add an extra line. Three lines separated by two line breaks count as 3 whether or not the text ends with a newline.
How is the reading time estimated?
Words divided by 200, a common average for silent reading, rounded to whole minutes and never less than one. It is a rough guide and appears only when the text has at least one word.
Does it strip HTML tags or ignore code?
No. The text is counted as typed, so markup counts literally: tags contribute their characters, and tags separated by spaces count as words. For an accurate count of formatted content, paste the plain-text version or strip the markup first.
Use Word Counter now
Runs in your browser. Nothing you type is uploaded.