How to count words and characters

Dusrel's word counter measures your text as you type — no button to press, no upload. Open it at dusrel.com/pass/word-counter/, paste or type your text, and the counts update on every keystroke. Your text is counted locally in your browser and is never uploaded, stored, or seen by anyone else.

Steps

1. Open the tool. You will see an empty text box with six count cards underneath it, all starting at zero.
2. Paste or type your text. Click into the box and write, or paste from another app. The counts update live as the text changes.
3. Read the six counts. Each card shows one measurement:
   • Words — the number of words
   • Characters — the total number of characters, including spaces and line breaks
   • Characters without spaces — the same count with all whitespace removed
   • Sentences — the number of sentences
   • Paragraphs — the number of paragraphs
   • Reading time — an estimate of how long the text takes to read
4. Start over when you need to. Click Clear text to empty the box and reset all counts to zero. The cursor returns to the box so you can type the next piece straight away.

How each count works

• Words are counted by splitting the text on whitespace, ignoring extra spaces at the start and end. Pasting text with double spaces will not inflate the word count.
• Characters counts everything you typed, including spaces and line breaks. Use Characters without spaces when a limit — such as a bio or post limit — counts only visible characters.
• Sentences are counted wherever the text is split by a sentence-ending mark (., !, ?, or …), as long as the part before it contains a letter or digit. A row of punctuation on its own does not count as a sentence.
• Paragraphs are blocks of text separated by blank lines. Pressing Enter once for a line break inside the same paragraph does not start a new paragraph — leave an empty line between paragraphs.
• Reading time assumes a reading speed of 200 words per minute. Under one minute it shows < 1 min; longer texts are rounded to whole minutes.

Tips

• Check a limit before you post. If a platform allows, say, 280 characters, watch the Characters card while you edit — or Characters without spaces if that platform ignores spaces.
• Use it for essays and assignments. The word count plus the paragraph count together make it easy to check a piece against a required length and structure.
• Split long text into paragraphs. If the paragraph count is lower than you expect, look for places where you pressed Enter only once — the counter needs a blank line to count a new paragraph.
• Reading time is an estimate. It is a useful guide for articles and scripts, but real reading speed varies from person to person.