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HandfulTools

Character Counter

Check the exact length of a text for tweets, SMS, meta descriptions, form fields or database limits. Counts characters with and without spaces, and treats emoji and accented letters as single characters.

Runs in your browser

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How to use

  1. Paste or type your text.
  2. Read “Characters” for the total including spaces.
  3. Use “Characters (no spaces)” when a limit excludes spaces.
  4. Edit your text until it fits the limit.

How it works

Characters are counted as grapheme clusters — what a reader sees as one character. “é”, “👍🏽” (thumbs up with skin tone) and flags like “🇫🇷” each count as one, even though they are made of several Unicode code points.

Some platforms count differently: X (Twitter) counts most emoji as two characters and URLs as 23, and SMS limits depend on the encoding (160 characters in GSM-7, 70 when the message contains emoji or other Unicode characters).

Examples

Meta descriptions
Google typically shows 120–160 characters of a meta description on desktop. Keep key information in the first 120.
SMS
A text message with only standard characters holds 160 characters. Add one emoji and the limit drops to 70 per segment.

Common uses

  • Staying within social media post limits
  • Writing SEO titles and meta descriptions
  • Checking form and database field limits
  • Preparing SMS campaigns

Privacy & security

This tool runs entirely in your browser. Your files and text are never uploaded to our servers — processing happens on your device and results are created locally. How each tool handles files

Frequently asked questions

Are spaces counted as characters?

Yes, in the main count. The “Characters (no spaces)” figure excludes spaces, tabs and line breaks.

Why does an emoji count as one character here but two elsewhere?

Many emoji are stored as two or more UTF-16 code units. This counter shows what a reader perceives; some platforms count storage units instead.

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