Truncate Text
Truncate text to specific length
About Truncate Text
Truncate Text shortens a text to a limit you set, counted in characters or in words, for previews, excerpts, captions, or form fields. When it cuts, it adds three dots after the kept part, and the dots are not counted in the limit. Characters are counted as they appear, so an emoji or an accented letter is never cut in half. In word mode the original spacing and line breaks are kept up to the last word. A text already within the limit comes back unchanged. The cut is made on your device.
Example
Limit 4, Type Words: the cut falls right after the fourth word.
Text
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
Result
The quick brown fox...
How to truncate text
- 1Paste your text.
- 2Enter the "Limit", which starts at 100, and choose Characters or Words in the "Type" dropdown.
- 3Click "Truncate".
- 4Click "Copy" for the shortened text, or "Download" for truncated.txt.
Formats and limits
- Units
- Characters as displayed, or Words (runs of non-space characters)
- Limit
- Any whole number, 0 included; 0 gives the three dots alone
- Ellipsis
- Three ASCII periods, added only when the text is cut, not counted in the limit
- Output
- The shortened text in a result box; Download saves it as truncated.txt
Where your text is processed
The text is measured and cut by JavaScript in this tab, so it never travels over the network. An invalid limit shows an error message, and that message, with the tool name and browser version but without your text, is recorded in our error log. The shortened text is kept only in the result box until you leave.
Frequently asked questions
Is the ellipsis counted in the limit?
No. The limit applies to your text only and the three dots are added after the kept part, so the result can be three characters longer than the limit. In character mode, spaces just before the cut are removed first.
Can it cut an emoji or accented letter in half?
No, in current browsers: it counts what you see, so 👍🏽, flags, and accents typed as separate marks stay whole. Firefox before version 125 lacks the segmenter used here and counts code points instead, which can split such characters.
Does word mode stop in the middle of a word?
No. A word is any run of characters between spaces or line breaks, and the cut falls right after the last word kept, with your original spaces and line breaks before it. Punctuation attached to that word stays.
Can I get the single … character instead of three dots?
No. The tool always adds three ASCII periods, never the single ellipsis character. If your style guide needs it, replace the three dots afterward with Find and Replace in its default plain-text mode.