⌘ K
UTF-8 · Twitter · SMS aware

Count characters & bytes instantly

Live character count with UTF-8 byte awareness. Twitter (280) and SMS (160) limit indicators built in.

Character Counter Workspace
Characters
46
1 line
Without spaces
38
no whitespace
UTF-8 bytes
49 B
encoded
Tweet limit
46/280
fits
input · text
output · character stats
Characters46Without spaces38Bytes (UTF-8)49Lines1Twitter limit46/280SMS limit46/160
Quick Start

How to count characters and bytes

For tweets, SMS, database fields, and form validators — every byte matters. This tool counts characters (Unicode code points), bytes (UTF-8 encoded), and shows live limit indicators for Twitter and SMS.

  1. 01

    Paste your text

    Updates live as you type. Emoji and astral characters count correctly as single graphemes.

    Tokenisation is Unicode-aware via \p{L}\p{N} property classes — so accented letters, ideographs, and emoji code points all count correctly.

    liveUnicodeUTF-8code points
    input · texttext · UTF-8
    Hello 🌍
    loaded · UTF-8UTF-8 · ready
  2. 02

    Read the count

    Characters (code points), no-spaces, UTF-8 bytes, and lines all shown.

    Live re-counts run on every keystroke through a memoised reducer, so even multi-megabyte inputs stay smooth in the editor.

    charsbyteslivememoisedoptions
    stats · optionslive · live
    7 chars · 10 bytes
    options applied · livelive
  3. 03

    Platform limits

    Twitter (280), SMS (160) — turns red when over.

    Output preserves the original line endings (\n vs \r\n) and trailing whitespace is reported separately so you can spot diff-only changes.

    TwitterSMSline endingswhitespacediff-clean
    limits · countedfits · ready
    7/280 · 7/160
    counted · livecounted
  4. 04

    Copy or download

    Export the full stats report as text or markdown.

    Copy writes via the Async Clipboard API; downloads ship as text/plain; charset=utf-8 — nothing leaves your tab.

    copydownloadclipboardtext/plainblob
    export · copiedready · done
    ✓ Copied
    shipped · ready to shipsuccess
Pro tips

Text-processing fundamentals worth knowing

Tokenise with Unicode classes

Use \p{L}\p{N} with the u flag so accents, ideographs, and emoji count properly.

Normalise line endings

Convert \r\n to \n before diffing or hashing — Windows-vs-Unix endings produce phantom changes.

Mind invisible characters

Zero-width joiners, BOMs, and non-breaking spaces look identical to ASCII space. Strip them before comparison or storage.

Stream don’t slurp

For multi-megabyte text, iterate line-by-line rather than loading everything to memory — keeps the tab responsive.

Choose collation deliberately

Default JS sort is code-point order, not human alphabetical. Use Intl.Collator for locale-aware sorting.

Re-run after normalisation

NFC vs NFD changes byte length but not visible glyphs. String.prototype.normalize() before counts and comparisons.

Related toolsWord CounterText StatisticsReading TimeKeyword DensityReadability ScoreWord Frequency
Use Cases

When to count characters

Anywhere there's a hard character limit.

Tweets / X posts

280-char limit — confirm before posting. Tokenisation uses Unicode property classes (\p{L}, \p{N}) with the u flag so accents, ideographs, and emoji code points all count correctly. Surrogate-pair-aware counts mean 🚀 weighs 1, not 2.

Unicode-correct

SMS messages

160 chars per SMS — over that and you're charged for two. Result updates as you type — paste and watch totals settle in milliseconds even on multi-megabyte inputs. Heavy work runs through a memoised reducer so the editor never janks.

diff-clean

Meta descriptions

Google truncates around 155-160 chars. Stay under for SEO. Output normalises line endings to LF for clean diffs across platforms. Windows-vs-Unix CRLF mismatches disappear, which keeps git blame honest and review comments focused on real changes.

instant counts

Database fields

VARCHAR(255), VARCHAR(64) — check before INSERT. Code-point counts are stable across NFC/NFD normalisation. Pair with the Reading Time Calculator to layer scan-time on top of raw counts, useful for editorial budgets and SEO meta-description limits.

platform-aware

Form validators

Match your form's maxlength attribute. All processing runs client-side — paste sensitive or pre-publish copy without it leaving the tab. The clipboard API writes UTF-8 text/plain so it survives transit to any editor or CMS.

code-point-accurate

Push notifications

iOS/Android push titles around 178 chars depending on platform. Same input plus same options always produces identical output, so the tool is safe to embed in CI scripts or doc-generation pipelines without race conditions.

lossless
FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Characters count Unicode code points; bytes count the UTF-8 encoded size. ASCII = 1 byte per char; emoji = 4 bytes per code point.
Each visible emoji counts as one character via [...str]. UTF-8 bytes show the actual transport size.
Twitter weights some characters double (CJK, certain emoji). This is a raw count — Twitter's may be higher for non-ASCII content.
Yes — case affects character count? No. Case-folding doesn't change character count.
No. All counting runs locally.
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