How to Truncate Text by Characters, Words, or Sentences

What the text truncator does

Truncating text is useful when a title, preview, label, notification, or other text area needs a shorter version. This tool takes supplied text and shortens it by characters, whitespace-separated words, or sentence-like segments. You can also choose a custom suffix, such as "..." or "[continued]", to show that the text was shortened.

The tool starts with empty text, a limit of 100, character counting, and a suffix of three periods when you do not provide different values. Empty input is accepted and returns empty text marked as not truncated, so it does not need special placeholder content.

How to truncate text

1. Paste or type the source text into the text field. For a blank result, leave the field empty; the tool accepts it without treating it as shortened.
2. Enter a limit for the retained content. For nonempty text, a truthy value is converted to an integer and raised to at least 1. A falsy value uses 100 instead. If you want predictable results, enter a positive whole number.
3. Select the counting mode: characters, words, or sentences. Character mode keeps the first limit characters. Word mode counts whitespace-separated words. Sentence mode counts segments ending in a period, exclamation mark, or question mark.
4. Enter a suffix if you want a marker after shortened text. If you leave the suffix at its default, the tool uses three periods. A suffix is appended only when shortening occurs.
5. Run the operation and review the produced text and its accompanying details. In character mode, trailing whitespace is removed from the retained portion. In word mode, the selected words are joined with single spaces. In sentence mode, selected segments are trimmed and joined with spaces.

For word or sentence limits, start with a value that matches the kind of content you are preparing. For example, a word limit suits a card preview, while a sentence limit suits an abstract. The selected rule is mechanical, so check the output before publishing it.

How to read the result

Read the result according to the mode you selected. Character mode preserves the beginning of the text up to the normalized limit, then removes trailing whitespace from that retained portion before adding the suffix. Word mode rebuilds the shortened text from the first selected words, using single spaces between them. Sentence mode uses the detected sentence-like segments rather than applying linguistic sentence analysis.

For nonempty input, the result reports the original character count and whether the produced text is shorter than the input. When shortening occurs, it also reports the produced character count, selected mode, and normalized limit. The final text can be longer than the limit because the suffix is added after the retained content.

If a mode other than characters, words, or sentences is supplied, nonempty text is left unchanged even though the operation succeeds. A sentence with no recognized ending punctuation is treated as one segment, and whitespace-based word splitting may not match the words a reader perceives. Review the text when preserving grammar, formatting, or a strict display budget matters.

Worked example

A content editor needs a five-word preview of a paragraph for a compact card.

Paste a paragraph into the text field, enter 5 as the limit, select words, enter "[continued]" as the suffix, and run the operation.

The result contains shortened text made from the first five whitespace-separated words joined with single spaces, followed by the custom suffix. Because shortening occurred, the details include the original character count, a shorter-than-input indicator, the produced character count, the words mode, and normalized limit 5.

Limitations

• The limit applies to retained content rather than guaranteeing a maximum final string length, because the suffix is added afterward. Sentence detection uses ending punctuation, word counting uses whitespace, and an unsupported mode leaves nonempty text unchanged.

Common errors

• A result may look unchanged because the limit was falsy and therefore became 100, the selected mode was not one of the three supported modes, or the sentence input contained no recognized ending punctuation. Enter a positive limit and select characters, words, or sentences, then review the source text's punctuation.

FAQ

Which truncation modes are supported?

The tool can shorten text by characters, whitespace-separated words, or sentence-like segments ending in a period, exclamation mark, or question mark. It does not apply a different truncation rule for another mode.

Can I add a custom ending to truncated text?

A suffix is added only when shortening occurs. The default is three periods, and you can provide a different suffix.

Will the final text always fit within the limit?

The final text is not guaranteed to stay within the limit because the suffix is appended after the retained content. The result details report the produced character count when shortening occurs.