About This Tool
Word Counter displays Unicode character counts alongside word counts for checking article length, editing copy, and estimating reading time. It does not simply treat an entire paragraph of Chinese without spaces as one English word.
How to Use It
- Type or paste text. Counts update after a short pause.
- Review characters, characters without whitespace, words, lines, paragraphs, and approximate sentences.
- Check the word segmentation and reading time notes to distinguish counts from estimates.
- Use Copy Text to copy your input, or clear it and load the example to compare different text.
Examples
- Hello world has 11 Unicode code points, 10 characters without whitespace, and 2 English words.
- Café has 4 Unicode code points; word boundaries in other languages depend on browser segmentation support.
- A paragraph can span several lines. One or more blank lines separate paragraphs.
Counting Rules
Words use Intl.Segmenter in word mode and its isWordLike property when available. Otherwise, local Unicode rules provide an approximation and the tool identifies the fallback method. Characters are counted as Unicode code points; the whitespace-free count excludes Unicode whitespace. Blank lines separate paragraphs, and sentence count is an approximation based on punctuation. Reading time assumes about 200 words per minute; actual reading speed can vary substantially for Chinese, Japanese, and mixed-language text. Empty text has 0 lines, and a trailing line break creates a final empty line. Each input accepts up to 2,000,000 UTF-16 code units.
Common Uses
- Check the length of articles, assignments, and product copy.
- Compare character volume and word segmentation across languages.
- Estimate the reading time of a long English article.
Privacy
Text processing, file reading, conversion, and previews all run locally in this browser. Input is not uploaded or automatically saved. No backend, database, online API, or third-party CDN is used. Copying and downloading also happen locally.
FAQ
How are English words counted?
The tool prefers the browser’s Unicode word segmenter and counts only isWordLike segments. Repeated spaces, tabs, and line breaks do not create extra words.
Can it count Chinese text?
Yes. Chinese characters contribute to the character count, and browsers with Intl.Segmenter can also segment Chinese words. Word boundaries may differ by language and browser.
What is the difference between characters and words?
Character count measures Unicode code points, including punctuation and whitespace. Word count measures word segments. They describe different things.
Is the reading time exact?
No. It is an estimate based on about 200 words per minute. Language, technical content, and individual reading habits affect actual reading time.
Is my text uploaded?
No. Your browser handles all input, segmentation, and counting locally. Your article is not saved automatically.