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text-truncator

Truncating text cuts it to a maximum length while (ideally) preserving readability. Naive truncation chops mid-word ("Hello wo..."); smart truncation respects word boundaries ("Hello..."). Useful for meta descriptions (160 chars), social-media posts (280 chars), card / list previews, SMS (160 chars), and anywhere a length cap matters. The ZTools Text Truncator tool offers both modes with configurable length, ellipsis style, and word-boundary preference.

Use cases​

Generate SEO meta descriptions​

160-char limit. Truncate at the last full word + "...". Keeps the description readable.

Format card previews​

"First 200 chars of the post + ..." — UI consistent across cards regardless of content length.

Stay under SMS / Tweet limits​

280 chars max. Tool warns when input exceeds, truncates cleanly.

Preview snippets in search results​

Truncate body text to 150 chars for search-result preview cards.

How it works​

  1. Paste text — Any length.
  2. Set max length — In characters (default) or words.
  3. Pick boundary mode — Hard cut (exactly N chars) or word-aware (cut at last word boundary before N).
  4. Pick ellipsis — "...", "…" (single char), or none.
  5. Output — Truncated text. Original length and final length both shown.

Examples​

Input: "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog", max 20 chars, word-aware

Output: "The quick brown..." (18 chars + "..." = 21 chars; tool ensures total stays under 20 if strict).

Input: Same input, hard cut 20 chars

Output: "The quick brown fox..." (exactly 20 with ellipsis included).

Input: Truncate to 5 words

Output: "The quick brown fox jumps..." (5 words plus ellipsis).

Frequently asked questions​

Should ellipsis count toward the limit?

Strict mode: yes (output is exactly N chars). Loose mode: no (output is N + 3 chars). Pick per use case.

Word boundary or character boundary?

Word-aware reads better. Hard cut is exact-length. Use hard cut only when downstream truly needs N chars exact.

What about Unicode characters?

JavaScript counts UTF-16 code units; emoji can count as 2. Tool offers "code-point count" mode for graphology accuracy (rarely needed).

Privacy?

All in browser.

Tips​

  • For meta descriptions, target ~155 chars to leave room for Google appending text.
  • For social media, count actual chars (not bytes) — Twitter's 280-char limit is code points.
  • Always use word-aware truncation for human-facing text — mid-word cuts look broken.
  • For card previews, also strip Markdown / HTML before truncating — otherwise tags consume your character budget.

Try it now​

The full text-truncator runs in your browser at https://ztools.zaions.com/text-truncator — no signup, no upload, no data leaves your device.

Open the tool ↗

Last updated: 2026-05-06 · Author: Ahsan Mahmood · Edit this page on GitHub