Do spaces count as characters?
Yes. Spaces, tabs and line breaks all count toward Characters. Characters without spaces leaves them out.
Gate2Home · Text tools
Character Counter
Count characters with and without spaces, words, sentences, lines and bytes as you type. Check SMS parts and post limits for X, Instagram and YouTube.
Try an example
Source
Counts
- Characters
- 0
- Characters without spaces
- 0
- Words
- 0
- Sentences
- 0
- Lines
- 0
- UTF-8 bytes
- 0
- SMS parts
- 0
- SMS encoding
- GSM-7
- X post, 280 character limit
- 280 of 280 characters left
- Instagram caption, 2,200 character limit
- 2,200 of 2,200 characters left
- Instagram bio, 150 character limit
- 150 of 150 characters left
- YouTube title, 100 character limit
- 100 of 100 characters left
- YouTube description, 5,000 character limit
- 5,000 of 5,000 characters left
Spaces and line breaks count as characters. Apps can count some characters differently, so treat the limits as a guide.
Counting runs in your browser. The tool does not save drafts; copy important work before leaving.
What each count means
- Characters
- Every character you see, including spaces, tabs and line breaks. An accented letter or an emoji counts as one, even when it is built from several code points.
- Characters without spaces
- The same count without spaces, tabs or line breaks.
- UTF-8 bytes
- The size of the text when it is saved or sent as UTF-8. A plain English letter takes 1 byte, é takes 2, and 😀 takes 4.
- SMS parts
- One text message holds 160 GSM-7 characters. A single character outside that alphabet, such as an emoji or á, switches the message to UCS-2, which holds 70. Longer messages are sent in parts of 153 or 67.
Frequently asked questions
How are emoji counted?
Each emoji counts as one character, including emoji with a skin tone or several joined together, such as 👩🏽💻. The same emoji can take several UTF-8 bytes and more than one SMS unit.
Which characters take two places in a text message?
In GSM-7, the characters ^ { } [ ] ~ | € and the backslash each take two of the 160 places.
Why does an app show a different number?
Apps apply their own counting rules. The limit meters compare the Characters count with each standard limit, so check the final text in the app before posting.