Why is the byte count higher than the character count?

UTF-8 uses 1 byte for ASCII but 2 bytes for accented Latin letters, 3 for most other scripts and 4 for emoji. Any text with characters outside ASCII therefore has more bytes than characters.

How many characters are in a tweet or SMS?

X (Twitter) allows 280 characters, counting most CJK characters as 2. An SMS holds 160 characters in the GSM-7 alphabet, or 70 characters once any character outside it, such as an emoji, forces UTF-16 encoding.

How is a word counted?

As a run of non-whitespace characters. "state-of-the-art" is one word and "hello,world" is one word, while "hello , world" is three. Word processors use similar rules, so counts usually agree within a few per cent.

Why does an emoji count as two characters?

JavaScript strings are UTF-16, and characters above U+FFFF, which includes most emoji, take two 16-bit code units. Counting Unicode code points instead would give 1.

String Counter

Characters, words, lines and bytes.

About String Counter

A string counter reports characters with and without spaces, UTF-8 bytes, words, unique words, lines and sentences. Counts update as you type.

How to use

Type or paste the text.
Read the seven counts in the grid; they update on every keystroke.
Use Clear to start again.

What it counts

Count	How it is measured
Characters (graphemes)	User-perceived characters, segmented with `Intl.Segmenter`; a flag or a family emoji is 1. Older browsers fall back to code points and the label says so
UTF-16 units	The same as `string.length` in JavaScript
Without spaces	Characters that are not whitespace
Bytes (UTF-8)	Length of the text encoded as UTF-8
Words	Runs of non-whitespace separated by spaces, tabs or newlines
Unique words	Distinct words, case-sensitive and including attached punctuation
Lines	Newline characters plus one; empty text is 0
Sentences	Segments ending in `.`, `!` or `?` followed by a space or the end

An emoji such as 😀 counts as 1 character, 2 UTF-16 units and 4 bytes; "é" counts as 1 character and 2 bytes.
"Hello," and "Hello" are different unique words; punctuation is not stripped.
"e.g. this" counts as two sentences, because the splitter does not know abbreviations.
Does not count paragraphs, syllables or reading time.

Example

Héllo wörld. Hi!
→ Characters 16 · Without spaces 14 · Bytes (UTF-8) 18
→ Words 3 · Unique words 3 · Lines 1 · Sentences 2

Privacy

Counting runs in the browser. No request is made, and nothing is stored.

Frequently asked questions

Why is the byte count higher than the character count?: UTF-8 uses 1 byte for ASCII but 2 bytes for accented Latin letters, 3 for most other scripts and 4 for emoji. Any text with characters outside ASCII therefore has more bytes than characters.
How many characters are in a tweet or SMS?: X (Twitter) allows 280 characters, counting most CJK characters as 2. An SMS holds 160 characters in the GSM-7 alphabet, or 70 characters once any character outside it, such as an emoji, forces UTF-16 encoding.
How is a word counted?: As a run of non-whitespace characters. "state-of-the-art" is one word and "hello,world" is one word, while "hello , world" is three. Word processors use similar rules, so counts usually agree within a few per cent.
Why does an emoji count as two characters?: JavaScript strings are UTF-16, and characters above U+FFFF, which includes most emoji, take two 16-bit code units. Counting Unicode code points instead would give 1.

Encode & decode

GUID Generator: One or many UUIDs, version 4 or 7.
ULID Generator: Sortable 26-character IDs with a time prefix.
Password Generator: Random passwords with length and character-set controls.
Hash Generator: MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256, SHA-384, SHA-512 and HMAC for text or a file.
Base64 Encoder / Decoder: Base64, Base32 and Base58 in both directions.
ROT13 / Caesar Cipher: Shift letters by any amount, or ROT13 in one click.
JWT Decoder: Read a token’s header and payload without sending it anywhere.
URL Encoder / Decoder: Percent-encode text for URLs, or decode it back.
HTML Entities: Escape &, < and > for HTML, or unescape them.
Base64 Image Encoder: Image to a Base64 data URL for CSS or HTML, or decode one back.
Random Number Generator: Random integers in a range, one or many, with or without repeats.
Bcrypt Generator: Hash a password with bcrypt, or check one against a hash.
AES Encrypt / Decrypt: Encrypt text with a passphrase using AES-256-GCM, or decrypt it.
Morse Code Translator: Text to dots and dashes, and back.

Data formats

XML ⇄ JSON: Convert between XML and JSON, from text or a file.
YAML ⇄ JSON: Convert between YAML and JSON, from text or a file.
CSV ⇄ JSON: Convert between CSV and JSON, from text or a file.
JSON to TypeScript: Infer TypeScript interfaces from a JSON sample.
JSON to Python Dataclass: Infer Python dataclasses from a JSON sample.
JSON to Pydantic Model: Infer Pydantic models from a JSON sample.
JSON to Go Struct: Infer Go structs with json tags from a JSON sample.
JSON to Rust Struct: Infer Rust structs with serde derives from a JSON sample.
JSON to Kotlin: Infer Kotlin data classes from a JSON sample.
JSON to C# Class: Infer C# classes from a JSON sample.
Base Number Converter: Binary, octal, decimal, hex and any base up to 36.
Text ⇄ Binary / Hex: Text to binary, hex, octal or decimal, and back.
Unix ⇄ UTC: Epoch seconds or milliseconds to a readable date, and back.
Timezone Converter: Convert a time between cities, with DST handled.
Cron Converter: Describe a schedule in words and get the cron expression.
Cron Expression Parser: Explain a cron expression in words and list its next run times.
Days Between Dates: The exact time between two dates, in days, weeks, months and years.
Age Calculator: Exact age in years, months and days, and the next birthday.
Epoch Clock: The current Unix timestamp, live, in seconds and milliseconds.
CIDR / Subnet Calculator: Network, broadcast, mask and host count for an IPv4 CIDR block.
Chmod Calculator: File permissions as octal (755) or symbolic (rwxr-xr-x).

Units & measures

Angle: Degrees, radians, gradians and turns.
Area: Square metres, feet, acres and hectares.
Bits / Bytes: Bits, bytes and every prefix up to petabytes.
Energy: Joules, calories, kilowatt-hours and BTU.
Frequency: Hertz, kilohertz, megahertz and RPM.
Fuel Economy: Miles per gallon, km per litre and litres per 100 km.
Length: Metres, feet, miles, inches and nautical miles.
Power: Watts, kilowatts and horsepower.
Pressure: Pascals, bar, PSI and atmospheres.
Speed: km/h, mph, knots and metres per second.
Temperature: Celsius, Fahrenheit and Kelvin.
Time Unit: Seconds, minutes, hours, days and beyond.
Volume: Litres, gallons, pints and cubic metres.
Weight: Kilograms, pounds, ounces and stone.

Text & code

Lorem Ipsum Generator: Placeholder paragraphs, sentences or words.
Slug Generator: Turn a title into a URL-safe slug.
Text Compare: Diff by line, word or character, unified or side by side.
URL Parser: Break a URL into host, path, query and fragment.
JSON Formatter & Validator: Validate, pretty-print or minify JSON.
JSON Diff: Compare two JSON documents, ignoring key order and formatting.
JSONPath Tester: Query JSON with a JSONPath expression.
SQL Formatter: Format and indent SQL for any dialect.
JavaScript Beautifier: Format minified or messy JavaScript into readable code.
HTML Formatter: Indent and tidy HTML, or strip it down to one line.
XML Formatter: Pretty-print or minify XML, with error positions.
CSS Minifier / Beautifier: Minify CSS, or expand it back to readable rules.
HTML to Markdown: Convert HTML to clean Markdown.
Text Case Converter: camelCase, snake_case, kebab-case, Title Case and more.
Markdown Previewer: Render Markdown as you type.
Whitespace Remover: Strip line breaks, extra spaces or both.
Sort Lines: Sort lines alphabetically, numerically, by length or reversed.
Duplicate Line Remover: Keep each line once.
String Counter: Characters, words, lines and bytes.
Regex Tester: Test a pattern against text with live matches.
Regex Cheatsheet: Regular-expression syntax with examples.

Word play

Palindrome Checker: Does it read the same backwards?
String Reverser / Rotator: Reverse a string or rotate it by n characters.
Roman Numeral Converter: 1984 ⇄ MCMLXXXIV.
NATO Phonetic Alphabet: Spell text out as Alfa, Bravo, Charlie.
Pig Latin Converter: English to Pig Latin and back.
Numeronym Generator: internationalization → i18n.
Leetspeak Translator: Text to l33t and back.
Word Frequency Counter: Which words appear most, and how often.

Images & colour

QR Code Generator: QR codes for text, links, Wi-Fi and contacts.
Barcode Generator: EAN, UPC, Code 128 and more as SVG or PNG.
Barcode / QR Reader: Decode a barcode or QR code from an image.
Color Picker: Pick a colour and copy it in every format.
Image Converter: Convert between PNG, JPEG and WebP, and resize on the way.
Contrast Checker: Contrast ratio of text on a background, against WCAG AA and AAA.
Favicon Generator: Every favicon size from one image.
Image Compressor: Shrink a JPEG, PNG or WebP in the browser.
Gradient Generator: Build a CSS gradient and copy the rule.
Box Shadow Generator: Tune a shadow and copy the CSS.

Reference

ASCII Table: Every ASCII character with its decimal, hex, octal, binary and HTML code.
HTTP Status Codes: Every HTTP status code with what it means and when to use it.
MIME Types: Common MIME types by file extension, searchable.
Port Numbers: Well-known and registered TCP and UDP ports and the services behind them.