Text Truncate

Truncate by

Counts every character, the ending included, so the result never goes over the limit.

Limit

characters

Presets

Ending

Break on word

Your text

0 characters · 0 words

Truncated text

0 characters · 0 words

On this page, the text is shortened in your browser and is not uploaded.

How the limit is counted

The ending counts

With a limit of 160 and the ending ..., at most 157 characters of your text are kept. The result is never longer than the limit.

160 − 3157 kept

Break on word

The cut moves back to the last space before the limit, so no word is split. The result can be a few characters shorter than the limit.

that tucksthat...

Words mode

Keeps the first words up to the limit, where a word is anything between spaces or line breaks, then adds the ending. Break on word does not apply.

one two threeone two...

Characters are counted the way a browser counts them, so many emoji count as 2 or more. X and SMS apply their own rules to links, emoji and some alphabets, so treat the presets as a guide.

Check a length in the Character Counter

How to truncate text

Choose characters or words

Pick Characters or Words under Truncate by. The line beside it says how the limit is counted.
Set the limit and the ending

Type a limit, or press a preset. Change the ending if you want … or none, and turn Break on word on or off.
Paste your text and copy the result

Paste the text into Your text. The truncated text and both counts update as you type. Press Copy to put the result on your clipboard.

Common use cases

Meta descriptions and page summaries

Cut a product or article summary to the length you aim for in search snippets, ending on a whole word.

Text messages and notifications

Keep a message within 160 characters, or a push notification within the length your app shows.

Cards, labels and previews

Make the preview text for a card or a list item, with an ellipsis that shows the text goes on.

Expected output for a unit test

Get the exact output of a truncate function, including how it handles emoji and accented letters.

Why use a text truncator?

A meta description, a product card, a notification or a text message all have a length that fits, and cutting by hand means counting, trimming and checking again. Text Truncate does the cut in one step: it keeps the ending inside the limit, can stop at the last whole word, and never splits an emoji or an accented letter in half. The live counts show how long the original was and how long the result is, before you copy it.

Text Truncate shortens text to a character or word limit. In Characters mode the ending, such as ... or …, counts toward the limit, so the result never goes over it, and Break on word moves the cut back to the last space so no word is split. The cut never breaks an emoji, a flag or an accented letter in half. Words mode keeps the first words you ask for, with their line breaks, and adds the ending after them.

The original and the truncated text both show live character and word counts. On this page, the text is shortened in your browser and is not uploaded. The same function is available as the REST tool text-truncate and the MCP tool text_truncate for scripts and AI clients.

Related tools: count characters, words and limits for several platforms with the Character Counter, count words and reading time with the Word Counter, and remove stray spaces and blank lines with the Whitespace Cleaner.

Tips

Use the single character … as the ending when every character counts: it takes 1 character where ... takes 3.
Clear the ending to cut with no marker at all.
Truncating a list? Words mode keeps the line breaks between the kept words.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does Text Truncate do?

Text Truncate shortens text to a limit you set, counted in characters or in words, and adds an ending such as ... when it cuts. In Characters mode the ending counts toward the limit, so a limit of 160 always gives 160 characters or fewer. Break on word moves the cut back to the last space so no word is split. The original and the result both show live character and word counts.

Does the ending count toward the limit?

In Characters mode, yes. With a limit of 160 and the ending ..., at most 157 characters of your text are kept, and the whole result is never longer than 160. In Words mode the limit counts words only, and the ending is added after the last kept word. If the text already fits, nothing is cut and no ending is added.

How are characters counted?

Characters are counted as UTF-16 code units, the same count as JavaScript's string length and the FindUtils Character Counter. Letters, digits, spaces, punctuation and line breaks count as 1 each; many emoji count as 2, and some emoji sequences count more. The cut never splits an emoji, a flag or a letter with an accent: it moves back to the start of that character, so the result can be a character or two shorter than the limit.

What does Break on word do?

Break on word moves the cut back to the last space before the limit, so the result ends on a whole word. Without it, the text is cut exactly at the limit, which can split a word. It applies only in Characters mode, because Words mode always keeps whole words. If there is no space before the limit, the cut stays at the limit.

What do the presets set?

The presets set plain numbers: 160 for Meta description, 280 for X post and 160 for SMS. They are starting points, not rules of those platforms. Google says a meta description has no length limit and shortens snippets to fit the device width. A single SMS holds 160 characters of the basic GSM alphabet, and a message with other characters, such as most emoji, is sent in an encoding that holds 70 per part. X counts links at a fixed length and some characters as two. Check the result where you post it.

Can I truncate by words instead of characters?

Yes. Set Truncate by to Words and enter the number of words to keep. A word is any run of characters between spaces or line breaks, so well-known is one word and a number is a word. Line breaks between the kept words are kept, and the ending is added after the last kept word.

Is my text uploaded?

Not on this page. The text is shortened in your browser with JavaScript, and nothing you type or paste is sent to a server. The REST API and MCP tool are a separate path: a call sends the input you include to FindUtils over HTTPS, where it is processed and the result returned. FindUtils does not store that input, and logs the request without its content.

Can I truncate text from a script or an AI client?

Yes. The same function runs as the REST tool text-truncate at api.findutils.com and the MCP tool text_truncate at mcp.findutils.com. The two name the options differently: REST takes max_length, mode, ellipsis and break_on_word, which is off unless you send true; MCP takes length, unit, suffix and word_boundary, which is on by default. The REST tool accepts up to 500,000 characters of text and a max_length of up to 100,000. The Run it from code card on this page shows a working request.

Run it from code

$ curl -X POST \
  api.findutils.com/api/tools/text-truncate/execute \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -d '{"text":"hello world","length":5}'

$ claude mcp add findutils \
  --transport http https://mcp.findutils.com/ \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"
# then call findutils:text_truncate

The REST tool text-truncate takes max_length, mode, ellipsis and break_on_word (off unless you send true); the MCP tool text_truncate takes length, unit, suffix and word_boundary (on by default).

Running a tool needs an API key. Keys are not for sale yet: ask for early access. About API keys

The REST API and the MCP tool are a separate path from this page: a call sends the input you include to FindUtils over HTTPS, where it is processed and the result returned. FindUtils does not store that input, and logs the request without its content.

API reference Add to Claude

How the limit is counted

The ending counts

Break on word

Words mode

How to truncate text

Choose characters or words

Set the limit and the ending

Paste your text and copy the result

Common use cases

Meta descriptions and page summaries

Text messages and notifications

Cards, labels and previews

Expected output for a unit test

Why use a text truncator?

Tips

Frequently Asked Questions

What does Text Truncate do?

Does the ending count toward the limit?

How are characters counted?

What does Break on word do?

What do the presets set?

Can I truncate by words instead of characters?

Is my text uploaded?

Can I truncate text from a script or an AI client?

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