What is the difference between character and word truncation?

Character truncation cuts text at an exact character count - useful for database fields, meta descriptions (160 chars), Twitter (280 chars), and other hard character limits. Word truncation cuts after a specified number of words - useful for article previews, card summaries, and UI excerpts where whole-word readability matters more than exact length.

What does "truncate at word boundary" mean?

When character truncation is active and "word boundary" is enabled, the tool cuts at the last complete word before the character limit rather than cutting mid-word. For example, with a 20-character limit, "Hello world, welcome" becomes "Hello world,…" instead of "Hello world, welcom…". This produces cleaner, more readable excerpts.

Can I use a custom ellipsis?

Yes. The default ellipsis is "…" (a single Unicode ellipsis character, U+2026), but you can set it to anything: " [read more]", " >>", " (truncated)", or even an empty string to truncate without any suffix.

What are common character limits I should know?

Some widely used limits: Google meta description (155–160 chars), Google page title (60 chars), Twitter/X post (280 chars), LinkedIn update (700 chars), Instagram caption (2,200 chars), SMS message (160 chars), OpenGraph description (200 chars), most database VARCHAR fields (255 chars).

Should I truncate the text or use CSS text-overflow: ellipsis?

Use CSS when the text is rendered in a browser and the full version should stay available - it clips to the actual rendered width, adapts to any viewport, and keeps the complete text in the DOM for screen readers, search engines, and copy-paste. Cut the string itself only when the limit is real: an API field, a database column, a meta description, or a plain-text channel like SMS.

Is my text sent anywhere?

No. Truncation is computed entirely in your browser with JavaScript. Nothing is uploaded and nothing is retained, so unpublished marketing copy or internal product descriptions can be pasted safely.

Does the tool count the ellipsis characters toward the limit?

Yes. The truncated output including the ellipsis will not exceed the specified limit. If your limit is 100 characters and the ellipsis is 3 characters ("..."), the visible text will be truncated at 97 characters before adding the ellipsis.

Text Truncator - Trim Text to Length

Truncate text to a specific character or word limit online. Add custom ellipsis, truncate at word boundary. Free tool, no signup.

🔒 Your text stays in your browser - nothing is sent to our servers

Limit

Unit

Ellipsis

Trim at word boundary (avoid cutting mid-word)

Input

Truncated Output

How to Use

Three steps to get started

Set your limit

Enter the maximum number of characters or words. Toggle between character and word mode to match your use case.

Configure options

Set a custom ellipsis and enable word boundary truncation for cleaner, more readable excerpts.

Paste and copy

Paste your text into the input area and copy the truncated result instantly.

About This Tool

When and why to truncate text

Truncating text means cutting it to a maximum length and signalling that something was removed, usually with an ellipsis. Nearly every content-driven application does it: card UIs show the first sentence of an article, databases impose column length limits, and social platforms enforce hard character caps. Doing it well - cutting at a word boundary, keeping the ellipsis inside the budget - is the difference between an excerpt that reads deliberately and one that looks broken.

The naive approach fails in two visible ways. Cutting at an exact index lands mid-word, so "the quarterly financial statement" becomes "the quarterly finan…". And appending an ellipsis after reaching the limit pushes the result over it, which is precisely what a database VARCHAR(255) or a strict API validator will reject. This tool cuts at the last complete word before the boundary and counts the ellipsis toward the limit, so a 100-character cap with a three-character suffix trims the visible text at 97.

Character vs. word limits

Character limits are enforced by APIs, databases, and platforms. A meta description longer than 160 characters gets cut by Google; a tweet over 280 characters is rejected. Character counting is exact and non-negotiable in these contexts.

Word limits are typically a UX choice. Showing "the first 50 words" of a blog post in a card preview is a readable, language-neutral way to create consistent-length excerpts regardless of word length variation.

Common applications

SEO meta descriptions - trim to 155–160 characters for optimal search snippet display
Social media posts - prepare content within platform character limits
Email subject lines - stay under 50 characters for mobile preview
Card/tile UI components - create consistent excerpt lengths for content feeds
Database VARCHAR fields - ensure text fits within schema constraints

When CSS ellipsis is the better answer

If the text is being displayed in a browser and the full version should remain available, truncate visually with text-overflow: ellipsis rather than cutting the string. CSS clips to the actual rendered width, so it adapts to the viewport and to whatever font the user has, and the complete text stays in the DOM for search engines, screen readers, and copy-paste. Cut the string itself only when the limit is real - an API field, a database column, a meta tag, or a plain-text channel like SMS, where no rendering layer exists to do the job.

One subtlety worth knowing if you are reimplementing this in code: character limits are rarely counted the way you assume. Twitter/X weights most CJK characters as two, and any emoji or accented character built from a surrogate pair or a combining sequence can consume several units in JavaScript's String.length while looking like one character. Slicing a string blindly at index n can split a surrogate pair and produce a replacement glyph - which is why cutting on a word boundary is safer in practice as well as prettier.

All truncation is computed locally in your browser. Nothing is transmitted or retained, so unpublished copy and internal descriptions are safe to paste.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

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