What counts as whitespace?

Spaces, tabs (\t), and newline characters (\n, \r) are all excluded. All other characters, including punctuation and special symbols, are counted.

How is this different from the regular character count?

The regular character count includes all characters. This mode strips out any whitespace before counting, so 'hello world' would be 10 instead of 11.

When is a no-spaces count useful?

When you want to compare the raw length of two texts regardless of spacing, or when a brief, style guide or quote sets its limit in characters without spaces. This mode gives that figure directly.

Are non-breaking spaces removed too?

Yes. Every character that JavaScript's \s pattern treats as whitespace is removed: spaces, tabs, line breaks, non-breaking spaces and the other Unicode space characters.

Characters (no spaces)

Count every character except whitespace. Spaces, tabs and line breaks are all left out, so 'hello world' gives 10. All processing runs in your browser.

Text input

COUNT

Runs entirely in your browser

How it works

Every whitespace character is removed first with the /\s/g pattern, which covers spaces, tabs, line breaks, non-breaking spaces and the other Unicode space characters. What remains is counted by Unicode code point, so letters, digits, punctuation and symbols each count as one, and most simple emoji count as one too.

Processing runs in your browser

All counting happens locally in your browser tab. Our servers are not involved at any point.

Related operations

For checking reading difficulty alongside word count, try the readability checker. To generate placeholder copy of a target length, use lorem ipsum. For tidying capitalisation as you draft, see the case converter.

Frequently asked questions

What counts as whitespace?: Spaces, tabs (\t), and newline characters (\n, \r) are all excluded. All other characters, including punctuation and special symbols, are counted.
How is this different from the regular character count?: The regular character count includes all characters. This mode strips out any whitespace before counting, so 'hello world' would be 10 instead of 11.
When is a no-spaces count useful?: When you want to compare the raw length of two texts regardless of spacing, or when a brief, style guide or quote sets its limit in characters without spaces. This mode gives that figure directly.
Are non-breaking spaces removed too?: Yes. Every character that JavaScript's \s pattern treats as whitespace is removed: spaces, tabs, line breaks, non-breaking spaces and the other Unicode space characters.

Last reviewed September 30, 2026

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