Guide

How to Count Words and Characters in Text Files (.txt)

Updated: October 2026

Learn how to count words and characters in plain text (.txt) files using Windows Notepad, Notepad++, Mac TextEdit, command line wc, or our free online tool.

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Plain text files with the .txt extension contain clean, unformatted text. Whether you are coding, writing notes, or translating content, finding out exactly how many words and characters are in a TXT file can be done in several quick ways.

Quick Answer: How to Count Words in a TXT File

Quick Answer: Open your text file, press Ctrl + A (Mac: ⌘ + A) to select all, copy with Ctrl + C, and paste it into our free online counter below. You can also view line and character counts directly in the status bar of Notepad++ or the latest Windows 11 Notepad.

Method 1: Windows Notepad & Notepad++

Modern text editors on Windows offer built-in counters right in the status bar:

  1. Double-click your .txt file to open it in Notepad (Windows 11).
  2. Look at the bottom-right status bar to see the total characters (or selected characters).
  3. In Notepad++, the bottom bar shows length: X lines: Y. Double-click the length indicator to open a detailed summary dialog with word counts.

Method 2: macOS TextEdit

On macOS, plain text files open in TextEdit. TextEdit does not display a continuous word counter in its interface. To check your count, select all with ⌘ + A, copy with ⌘ + C, and paste into our tool below for a comprehensive breakdown.

Method 3: Terminal / Command Line (macOS & Linux)

If you prefer using the command line, the standard Unix utility wc (Word Count) gives instant answers:

  • Count words: wc -w document.txt
  • Count characters (Unicode): wc -m document.txt
  • Count bytes: wc -c document.txt
  • Count lines: wc -l document.txt

Characters vs. File Size (Bytes) in TXT Files

Users often confuse file size in bytes with character count. In UTF-8 encoded text files, standard English ASCII letters take 1 byte each, while special symbols, accented letters, and emojis take 2 to 4 bytes each. A text file with 1,000 characters might therefore have a file size greater than 1,000 bytes.

Detailed Text Metrics in Your Browser

While basic text editors only report characters or lines, our free tool calculates words, characters with/without spaces, sentences, paragraphs, average sentence length, estimated reading time, speaking duration, and top keywords. Paste your text below to get started.